Alrosa Diamonds Missing from Gokhran

(IDEX Online News) – According to reports in the Russian media, four uncut diamonds have gone missing while being held at Gokhran (the State Precious Metals and Gems Repository) for sorting.

The stones were part of a batch submitted by the Severalmaz mining company, which belongs to Alrosa.

According to the Kommersant daily newspaper, after being sorted by Gokhran, some of the diamonds, which came from the northern Arkhangelsk region, were switched with inferior replacements while the four large stones have gone completely missing.

The newspaper said that the minimum value of the diamonds was $500,000, with one of the stones weighing 23 carats.

A state commission has been created to investigate the incident.

In related news, Alrosa announced that its revenue increased by 26 percent year-over-year, to RUB 131.9 billion ($2 billion)

Net profit in the first half of the year doubled to reach RUB 47.4 billion ($724.4 million).

“[The] foreign exchange market environment continues to have a positive impact on ALROSA’s financial results,” said ALROSA CEO Andrey Zharkov.

“The company notes a steady increase in demand for diamond jewelry in the USA. [The] less active diamond jewelry market in Asia is a result of deterioration of the macroeconomic situation in the region. ALROSA's forecast for rough diamond demand is a conservative one, though the market is expected to pick up by year-end 2015.”