Alrosa Working on New Diamond Mine

Sorter at an Alrosa diamond sorting center

(IDEX Online News) – Alrosa started initial work on the Botuobinskaya diamond pipe, planning to start commercial diamond mining at the site in the fourth quarter of 2015, the company said in a release. At full capacity, Botuobinskaya is expected to produce about 1.5 million carats of diamonds annually.

The Russian diamond-mining giant started to strip overburden at the Botuobinskaya, the first phase in developing the deposit. The stripping operations will last for three years.

The diamond pipe will be mined as an open pit and its ore will be processed at Nyurba. Botuobinskaya is located within the Nakyn Ore Field, 3 kilometer from the Nyurbinskaya diamond pipe.

The mine has a high grade of 5.13 carats per tonne, and a diamond reserve exceeding 70 million carats, Alrosa reported.

A high proportion of gem-quality and near-gem-quality stones with a high degree of transparency characterizes the Botuobinskaya diamonds, according to the release.

Alrosa said it assumed that this diamond resource will eventually make up for dwindling production at Nyurbinskaya, which has been mined since 2000.