Alrosa produces 888.15-carat industrial diamond
MOSCOW. Oct 24 (Interfax) - Russia's diamond monopoly Alrosa has produced an 888.15-carat industrial diamond at one of the Aykhal Mining and Processing Complex's factories, the company told Interfax.
The diamond is unique by its size and could be the fourth largest diamond produced in Russia in terms of its mass. Since it is not a gem diamond, it will probably not be assigned a unique name. It will remain in storage at Alrosa for now, the company said.
The diamond is opaque and greenish-gray in color, with dimensions of 58x48x36 millimeters.
The largest gem diamond in Russia - XXVI Congress of CPSU - was discovered in 1981 in kimberlite pipe and has a mass of 342.57 carats. This precious stone, yellow-lemon in color, is currently in the Kremlin's Diamond Fund.
In September, Alrosa announced that it had produced a 158.2-carat gem diamond at the Nyurbinsk Mining and Processing Complex. The company has estimated the cost of this diamond at auction at $1.5 million.
Alrosa plans to produce 34.4 million carats of raw diamonds this year, compared to 34.6 million carats in 2011. It produced 16.4 million carats in the first half of 2012.
