Alrosa maintains geological exploration plans for 2022, to invest up to 8 bln rubles

MOSCOW. Oct 6 (Interfax) - Alrosa is maintaining its geological exploration this year, with investments in exploration expected to reach 8 billion rubles, the company's chief geologist Konstantin Garanin told Interfax on the sidelines of Minex Russia 2022.

"In general, we have not adjusted our plans," he said. "Naturally, geological exploration programs are a living organism, we adjusted some things, strengthened some things, but in general we did not change our plans significantly," Garanin said.

In recent years, the company has been investing about 8 billion rubles per year in geological exploration. "And this year the figure will be about the same, no higher than 8 billion rubles," Garanin said. The geological budget for next year, including exploration and prospecting, is just now being prepared, and it is scheduled for discussion with the management in mid-October.

Alrosa's geologists are now fully supplied with machinery and equipment, said Garanin, but in the future the company will have to be flexible in choosing equipment.

"However, the majority of equipment used in prospecting (geological exploration - IF) is domestic, i.e. drilling rigs and heavy equipment. This is why we have not suffered much, unlike mining and processing plants where imported equipment is mainly used. However, the risks in the area of software are probably higher, because all this has to be replaced in a short time, as well as the laboratory equipment, which is imported in its turn," he said.

Alrosa's geologists are currently fully supplied with machinery and equipment, Garanin said, but in the future the company will have to be flexible in choosing equipment.

"We [in geological exploration] use mostly domestic equipment in terms of drilling rigs, heavy machinery. This is why we have not suffered much, unlike mining and processing plants, which primarily use imported equipment. However, risks in the area of software are probably higher, because all this has to be replaced in a short time, as well as the laboratory equipment, which is largely imported," he said.