Alrosa Reports Ore Mining At Karpinskogo-1 Kimberlite

(IDEX Online News) – Severalmaz JSC, a subsidiary of Russian diamond mining group Alrosa, has begun ore mining at the Karpinskogo-1 kimberlite pipe in the Arkhangelsk region.

The Karpinskoog-1 pipe will produce 600,000 tons of ore this year, rising to two million tons of ore next year when large-scale ore processing will start.

Severalmaz will refine small amounts of ore in a test operation at the end of 2014 to approve diamonds grade and adjust its processing technology.

The Karpinskogo-1 deposit consists of six kimberlite pipes with 126 million tons of ore reserves according to JORC standards. The JORC reserves of Karpinskogo-1 pipe amount to 31 million tons of ore containing more than 33 million carats of diamonds.

Stripping operations at a depth of about 36 meters at Karpinskogo-1 preparing the ore body for mining were commenced in 2009.

Diamond mining has taken place at the Arkhangelskaya kimberlite pipe since 2005.

Diamond production by the Severalmaz unit amounted to 500,000 carats last year.

New processing operations and the start of mining at Karpinskogo-1 will increase the Severalmaz subsidiary's diamond production to two million carats in 2015 and to more than five million carats in the future.

Alrosa said that the development of Severalmaz is an important part of its growth strategy. The group plans to produce 36 million carats of rough goods this year, rising to 41 million carats annually by 2021.