Alrosa Posts 8% Rise In Rough Sales Revenue In Q1-Q3

The Udachnay mine.

(IDEX Online News) – Russian mining giant Alrosa sold 28.8 million carats of diamonds in the first nine months of this year, with revenue from rough diamond sales growing by 8 percent on the year to $3.7 billion, according to preliminary data.

During the third quarter, it sold 7.6 million carats of diamonds, including 5.3 million carats of gem-quality diamonds with an average price of $182 per carat, and 2.3 million carats of industrial diamonds with an average price of $16 per carat.

The company said the diamond market was "positive" during the third quarter, with rough diamond prices rising by around 7 percent since the beginning of the year.

The miner posted a 21-percent jump on the second quarter in diamond production to 9.7 million carats in the third quarter.

The production increase was driven by seasonal production growth at alluvial deposits, increase in volumes of ore processing at the Aikhal underground mine following the completion of the overhaul of Processing Plant No. 8, and the production ramp-up at Severalmaz in accordance with the company's plan, the firm said in a statement.

For the first nine months of 2014, diamond production totaled 25.7 million carats, down 5 percent lower on the year. The production decrease was due to a reduction in ore processing at the Udachnaya pipe in line with the company's plan for the transition to underground mining at the deposit.

The company said there had been an almost three-fold rise in production growth to 1.2 million carats in the first nine months of this year at Severalmaz following the launch of the second module of the site’s processing plant.

Alrosa reiterated mining guidance of 36 million carats for all of 2014.