Botswana Diamonds gets environmental nod for Thorny River
Company expects the mining permit to be granted within the next six weeks, following further community consultations.
The secretive Russian diamond giant Alrosa on Thursday provided a rare glimpse into its finances and operations ahead of a possible public offering. The state-owned company supplies about a quarter of the world’s diamonds and in 2010 produced more of the precious stones than De Beers, historically the dominant miner and marketer of the gems.
Alrosa’s president Fyodor Andreyev said an internal audit showed its diamond reserves at 1.28bn carats, making the company the world’s biggest holder: “At current extraction rates, the company’s reserves will last more than 40 years.”
The International Diamond Exchange reports:
“Alrosa’s 2010 revenues increased 45% to 113.39 billion rubles ($4 billion) the company said on Tuesday. The growth in sales, which include rough and polished goods, reflects rising prices and volumes as global demand for diamonds is rising.
Net profits soared 240% to 11.79 billion rubles ($416.3 million), while operating profit of 27.138 billion rubles ($958.2 million) grew by 16%.
Alrosa’s production was up 5% to 34.3 million carats. Selling some of the stock it accumulated during the crisis, diamond sales outpaced production, 39.5 million carats, a 50.8% increase.”
