Alrosa has started operations at additional kimberlite pipe at its Lomonosov deposit, one of the largest diamond mines in Russia.
The state-run miner said on Tuesday (8 July) that the Karpinsky-2 pipe, one of six at Lomonosov, held more than 40m tonnes of diamond bearing ore.
Its subsidiary, Severalmaz, already mines two other pipes at the site in Arkhangelsk, northwestern Russia – Arkhangelskaya and Karpinsky-1 – and is now mining Karpinsky-2.
Alrosa, currently sanctioned by the G7 nations, said in March that it was suspending production at four low-margin mines – Zapolyarny, Magnitny, Khara-Mas and Ochuos – because of a “deep crisis” in the industry.
It is also selling a large proportion of its output to Gokhran, the state repository of precious metals and gemstones.
Gokhran has historically functioned as a buffer, stockpiling diamonds during market downturns and selling them back when demand recovers, for example, during the 2009 financial crisis.
Source: IDEX