Alrosa reduces diamond production 2% to 37.4 mln carats in 2016
MOSCOW. Jan 30 (Interfax) - Alrosa produced 37.4 million carats of rough diamonds in 2016, 2% less than in 2015, the Russian diamond miner reported.
The drop in production is attributed to a revision of plans for mining at alluvial deposits in the second and third quarters of 2016 due to the situation on the diamond market in 2015.
Alrosa increased production by 10% to 9.5 million carats in the fourth quarter of 2016 on the back of growth in underground mining, as it brought the Mir underground mine up to design capacity.
The overall ore grade declined to 0.98 carats/tonne (cpt) in 2016, down from 1.03 cpt in 2015, but rose to 1.33 cpt in Q4 2016, up from 1.17 cpt in Q4 2015.
Underground mines accounted for 30% of diamond production, open-pit mining for 51% and alluvial mining for 19%.
The Aikhal division accounted for 33% of diamond production, Mirny - 21%, Nyurba - 18%, Udachny - 8%, and Lomonosov (Severalmaz ) - 6%. Alluvial mining division Almazy Anabara accounted for 9% and Nizhne-Lenskoye - 5%.
The production target in 2017 is 39.2 million carats.
Alrosa sold 10.1 million carats of diamonds in Q4 2016, including 6.6 million carats of gem-quality diamonds at an average price of $127 per carat and 3.5 million carats of industrial diamonds at an average price of $6 per carat. Revenue from rough diamond sales amounted to at least $849 million in the quarter, up 21% year-on-year.
Revenue from rough diamond sales is set to reach at least $4.3 billion in 2016 as a whole, Alrosa said. The company boosted sales 34% to 40.1 million carats of diamonds in the year, including 2.9 million carats from inventory.
Deutsche Bank estimates Alrosa's inventory was 19.5 million carats at end-2016.
Alrosa Group diamond production:
| Q4 2016 | Q4 2015 | 2016 | 2015 | |
| Diamonds mined, mln cts | 9,5 | 8,6 | 37,4 | 38,3 |
| Ore processed, mln tonnes | 7,1 | 7,3 | 38,1 | 37,1 |
| Diamond content, cts/tonne | 1,33 | 1,17 | 0,98 | 1,03 |
Alrosa Group sales:
| Q4 2015 | Q1 2016 | Q2 2016 | Q3 2016 | Q4 2016 | Q4/Q3 2016 | Q4 2016/Q4 2015 | 2015 | 2016 | 2015/2016 | |
| Diamonds mined, mln cts | 8,6 | 8,2 | 8,7 | 11,0 | 9,5 | -13% | 10% | 38,3 | 37,4 | -2% |
| Diamonds sold, mln cts | 7,1 | 12,1 | 9,6 | 8,3 | 10,1 | 22% | 42% | 30,0 | 40,1 | 34% |
| - of which gem quality | 4,1 | 8,9 | 7,1 | 5,8 | 6,6 | 14% | 61% | 19,7 | 28,4 | 44% |
| Price if gem qualoty diamonds, $/ct | 166 | 146 | 169 | 165 | 127 | -23% | -23% | 170 | 151 | -11% |
| - industrial diamonds | 3,0 | 3,2 | 2,5 | 2,5 | 3,5 | 40% | 17% | 10,3 | 11,7 | 14% |
| Industrial diamond prices, $/ct | 10 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | -14% | -40% | 10 | 7 | -29% |
| Sales recvenue, $ bln | 0,8 | 1,3 | 1,2 | 1,0 | 0,8 | -13% | 13% | 3,4 | 4,3 | 26% |