Alrosa cuts costs 25% to 65 bln rubles amid industry crisis; continuing development projects - CEO

MOSCOW. Aug 4 (Interfax) - Alrosa has cut costs 25% to 65 billion rubles amid the crisis in the diamond industry, CEO Pavel Marinychev said during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

"We have optimized our operating costs aggressively. We have cut total costs 25% to 65 billion rubles," Marinychev said.

Meantime, Alrosa is continuing the development projects, primarily involving underground diamond mining, Marinychev said.

Several of the projects are active and under construction, while others are undergoing exploration work, so that they could begin operating immediately once macroeconomic conditions permit. Deep World is the flagship project that should allow the company to maintain a leading position over the long term until 2070. Alrosa is also continuing to diversify its projects, including preparing for goldmining at the Degdekan deposit, Marinychev said.