Alrosa Considering Cutting 600-800 Positions

Alrosa is considering a range of actions that would cut payroll costs, including the dismissal of 600-800 employees, the Russian diamond miner announced. Among the cost-cutting measures are also work holidays and shorter work days for some of the workers.

The ideas were discussed during an October 16 board meeting that focused on operational plans for 2010. “The plan foresees the reduction of the company's personnel by around 600-800 persons. Additional proposed measures are dismissing a portion of the personnel through downtime, unpaid vacation time and a part-time work regime,” Alrosa said in a statement after the meeting.

According to an Interfax report, a number of Alrosa's mining and enrichment facilities have implemented a downtime regime. Their full operations were restored on September 1.

One of the issues on the agenda was projects in Angola. No further details were provided about this issue.