Russia questions legality of US-planned moon mining pact

The Cullinan Mine is owned 74% by Petra Diamonds Limited and is renowned as the source of very rare blue diamonds and large, high quality gem diamonds.

"The last 10 years have been... an exciting time during which we’ve launched lots of industry firsts and helped reimagine the way the sector operates."

The stock fell by 21%, the steepest intraday decline since September, after the miner lowered production forecasts and confirmed that a stronger South African currency would knock annual profits.

Alrosa to close its "She said "YES!" contest on February 14.

The Russian state-controlled diamond miner increased fourth-quarter production by 6 percent year-on-year to 10.1 million carats as a shutdown at its Mir mine was offset by higher output at other assets.

The company, a unit of Anglo American Plc, mined 33.5 million carats in 2017. That’s a 22 percent jump from a year earlier, beating its own target.

Alrosa could sell around 40 million carats of diamonds in 2018 provided market conditions are favourable.

Diamonds recovered during sampling at the project were not sufficient to produce a modelled diamond valuation, said the company.

The company beat expectations on Thursday with a 5% increase in 2017 production.