Alrosa starts designing underground mine at Yubileinaya pipe

MOSCOW. March 27 (Interfax) - Alrosa has begun designing an underground mine at its Yubileinaya pipe, the Russian diamond miner reported, citing first deputy CEO Sergei Pavlenko.

Alrosa subsidiary Aikhalsky GOK (AGOK), which is mining the pipe, began the year satisfactorily, Pavlenko said at a meeting with company employees. "All indicators are being met and we believe in you, that AGOK will certainly meet all indicators this year," he said.

Absent the Mir mine that was flooded in August 2017, the future Yubileiny mine could become Alrosa's fourth operating underground mine, if production does not cease at the company's very first mine, International, by the time it opens.

The Yubileinaya pipe is one of Alrosa's main deposits and produced a quarter of the company's diamonds at its peak in 2013-2018, but production at the deposit declined by 2021 and its contribution to the company's output shrank to 16%.

The project to build the Yubileiny underground mine calls for mining to start in 2032 in the amount of 2.3 million carats (1.8 million tonnes of ore). Underground reserves are estimated at 43.2 million carats. Capital expenditures on the mine's construction were estimated at 72 billion rubles in 2019.