Alrosa is to invest RUB 20bn ($240m) digging deeper to extend the life of the vast underground Udachny mine, just outside the Arctic Circle, until at least 2055.
Mining will eventually take place more than 1km below the surface, extracting 4.1m tonnes of ore annually. The target horizon – the level where mining operations are planned – is 1.13 km below the surface ( at an absolute elevation of -780 m, when taking the surface elevation as a baseline).
Alrosa CEO Pavel Marinychev says annual profit from the planned expansion is estimated at almost RUB 6bn ($73m) a year.
Udachny opened as open-pit mine in 1967 and switched to underground operations in 2014, producing over 10 per cent of Alrosa’s total output. It was due to reach the end of its life in 2039.
Alrosa said the investment committee had approved the project. Udachny is one of the world’s largest kimberlite pipes. Trucks take over 30 minutes to reach the bottom, currently 680 metres below the surface.
“The implementation of the investment project will enable us to significantly extend the duration of mining at the deposit, which currently produces more than 10 per cent of Russian rough diamonds,” said Marinychev.
“From 2025 through 2055, 4.1 million tonnes of ore will be mined here annually and profit is estimated at almost 6 billion rubles per year.”
Source: IDEX