OREANDA-NEWS. ALROSA’s Q1 2015 diamond production totalled 8.4 million carats, up 6% y-o-y, driven by the following projects progressing:

- Mir underground mine: diamond output increased 9 times up to 488 thousand carats through measures to reduce the mine watering

- Botuobinskaya pipe: the first 313 thousand carats was produced after the launch in March 2015

- Arkhangelskaya and Karpinskogo-1 pipes of the Lomonosov deposit (Severalmaz): increase in volumes of processed ore at Karpinskogo-1 doubled the diamond output up to 450 thousand carats.

Preliminary sales performance

Indicatively, Q1 2015 saw ALROSA sell 9.0 million carats of diamonds, including 7.0 million carats of gem-quality diamonds at an average price of USD 161 per carat and 2.0 million carats of industrial diamonds at an average price of USD 8 per carat. The Q1 2015 revenue from rough diamond sales is set to reach at least USD 1.1 billion.

In Q1 2015, ALROSA’s rough diamond prices declined by 3% affected by a softer diamond market. The Company expects the conditions to improve on the back of an uptrend in the key diamond jewelry markets – the USA, China and India.