In a Press Release dated 26th January 2017, Alrosa, the world’s leading diamond miner has released its 4th Quarter and Financial Year 2017 production and trading performance report.
According to this report Alrosa Groups FY 2017 total diamond production was 39.6 million carats which was 6% higher than the previous year’s production. The Company was able to achieve such impressive production figures in keeping with its annual diamond production plan, despite the shutdown of the Mir underground mine in view of the accident in August 2017. The Company attributes the growth in diamond production to several factors such as higher output at the Udachny underground mine; the development of the richest part of the deposit at the Jubilee pipe; higher production at the Botuobinskaya pipe and the increased grade at the Arkhangelskaya and Karpinskogo-1 pipes operated by Severalmaz.
According to the Preliminary Sales Performance report for FY2017, the ALROSA Group sold a total of 41.2 million carats of diamonds in 2017. Out of this rough diamond sales realized a total of USD 4.2 billion and polished diamond sales a total of USD 96.9 million.
In the 4th-Quarter 2017, a total of 9.4 million carats of rough diamonds, which included 6.2 million carats of gem-quality diamonds, were sold at an average price of USD 139 per carat. During this period 3.2 million carats of industrial diamonds were also sold at an average price of USD 6.5 per carat. Total amounts realized by rough diamond sales and polished diamond sales during this period was USD 881 million and USD 28.7 million respectively
