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.