USGS releases first study to assess global earthquake risk to mineral supplies
Earthquakes have the potential to substantially affect mining operations, leading to supply chain disruptions that adversely affect the global economy.
The deposit is located in the Arkhangelsk region, northern Russia.
Russian Alrosa, the world’s largest diamond producer by carat, said Monday its subsidiary Severalmaz JSC has began mining for precious stones at the Karpinskogo-1 kimberlite pipe at the Lomonosov deposit in northern Russia.
Stripping operations at a depth of about 36 meters on Karpinskogo-1 and preparations of the ore body for mining began in 2009.
According to Alrosa, the Karpinskoog-1 pipe is expected to produce 0.6 million tonnes of ore this year, which will increase to 2 million tonnes of ore per year from 2015. Large-scale ore processing will start in 2015.
The Lomonosov deposit consists of 6 kimberlite pipes with 126 million tonnes of ore reserves under the JORC standards. The JORC reserves of Karpinskogo-1 pipe amounted to 31 million tonnes of ore containing more than 33 million carats of diamonds, said Alrosa.
The miner’s 2014 diamond output is expected to reach 36 million carats and it plans to increase production to 41 million carats by 2021.
Image: Russia, Arkhangelsk region | Yakovlev Sergey.
