ALROSA Creates 2 Production Plans for 2016

(IDEX Online News) – ALROSA has announced that it intends its 2016 production output to be flexible, as it takes stock of global rough diamond demand.

At a recent meeting of the ALROSA Group, company president Andrey Zharkov said that production was expected to be within the 37 million to 39 million carats range. He stressed that any possible reduction in production would have no impact on ALROSA’s employees, with reduced production achieved through a flexible employee leave schedule.

Zharkov said that rough diamond demand had exceeded expectations in the first three months of the year, but that the company was more conservative about the full-year production schedule. He added that ALROSA’s key priority was to not accumulate stocks.

At the same meeting, there was a review of ALROSA’s 2015 results. More than 500 representatives attended the gathering, including chairman of the State Assembly (Il Tumen) Alexander Zhirkov, chairman of the Government of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Galina Danchikova, other heads of ministries and municipal officials.

Zharkov reported that ALROSA had mined more than 38 million carats of diamonds in 2015, a 6-percent increase over the amount in 2014. The company also ramped up production due to putting the Botuobinskaya pipe in Yakutia into operation, growing production at Severalmaz in the Arkhangelsk region, and increasing diamond mining at Mir and Udachny underground mines in Yakutia. The company president also reiterated that because of a market slump, it had been forced to bring prices for its assortment down by 15 percent on average.