Russia’s Alrosa diamonds output up 6% in Q1

Alrosa’s Udachny mine began operations in 2014 and it is expected to become Russia’s largest diamond mine and one of the world’s biggest.

Russia’s Alrosa, the world’s No.1 diamond producer by output in carats, said Tuesday its first-quarter output went up by 6% to 8.4 million carats.

The increase, the preliminary Q1 results show, was driven by expanded production at the company’s Mir underground mine, the Botuobinskaya pipe and the Arkhangelskaya and Karpinskogo-1 pipes at the Lomonosov deposit.

The miner also said that revenue from rough diamond sales was set to reach at least $1.1 billion, even though its first-quarter rough diamond prices dropped by 3%.

The company expects market conditions to improve as key diamond jewellery markets in the U.S., China and India pick up.

Image courtesy of Alrosa.