Russian diamond miner Alrosa posted a 7 percent drop on the year in diamond production in the first half of 2014 to 15.9 million carats.
The firm said the output fall was largely due to planned annual maintenance operations at Processing Plants No. 8 of Aikhal Division and No.12 of Udachny Division.
The miner said production rose by 2.3 times in H1 2014 at the Severalmaz mine following the launch of the second part of the site’s processing plant and “confirms the previously announced mining guidance of 36 million carats for Alrosa in 2014”.
Alrosareported that interim data showed the sale of 21.1 million carats of diamonds in the first six months of 2014, with revenue from rough diamond sales up 13 percent on the year and amounting to $2.7 billion.
The global diamond market was positive in the half-year period, with rough diamond prices rising by around 6 percent since the beginning of the year.
In the second quarter of 2014, Alrosa sold a total of 8.4 million carats of diamonds, including 6.1 million carats of gem-quality stones, with an average price per carat of $200, and 2.3 million carats of industrial diamonds with an average price of $11 per carat.