Lucapa Diamond to restart halted Merlin mine
The phased approach will begin with an 18-month initial phase focused on excavating and dredging five existing pits.
MOSCOW, March 15 (Reuters) – Russian diamond producer Alrosa suffered a sharp fall in core profit last year, hit by lower prices for its gems.
The world’s largest producer of rough diamonds said that earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell 28 percent to 126.9 billion roubles ($2.2 billion), broadly meeting analyst expectations, on revenues of 275.4 billion roubles.
The average price of its gem-quality diamonds fell by 9 percent in 2017, it said, citing “changes in the product mix”.
The company did not report separate fourth-quarter results. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected Alrosa to post quarterly EBITDA of 25.5 billion roubles, which together with Alrosa’s nine-month EBITDA would give a full-year forecast of 125.5 billion roubles.
($1 = 57.4483 roubles)
(Reporting by Polina Devitt; Editing by Dasha Afanasieva)
