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RAPAPORT... ALROSA commissioned its Udachny underground mine today and the mining giant anticipates that the operation will eventually become the largest underground diamond mine in Russia and one of the largest in the world. The underground mine is expected to reach its design capacity in 2019. Until that point, in the second half of 2014, diamond mining at Udachny will be ancillary to the ore body development. Commercial production is expected to begin in 2015 and reach 2.4 million tons to 3 million tons of ore per year by 2016, and eventually 4 million tons per year by 2019. ALROSA stated that once the design capacity has been reached, Udachny will be able to provide more than 5 million carats of diamonds per year. Meanwhile, open-pit mining at ALROSA's Udachnaya kimberlite pipe, one of the company's largest deposits discovered in 1955, has produced about $80 billion worth of rough diamonds. Open-pit mining at Udachnaya is expected to be completed in 2015. Until that time, underground mining and operations in the open-pit mine will run parallel. Udachny is largest underground mine operated by ALROSA. The company also operates the International and Aikhal underground mines with the design capacity of 500,000 tons of ore per year, and the Mir underground mine with a design capacity expected to reach 1 million tons of ore per year. Fedor Andreev, ALROSA’s CEO, said, "An ambitious program for the construction of underground mines is an integral part of ALROSA’s development strategy aiming to keep its world-leading position in terms of rough diamond mining and ensure the diamond mining growth up to over 40 million carats. Launch of the Udachny underground mine will allow the company to maintain a stable volume of diamond production in Western Yakutia for many years."
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