ALROSA is now selling roughly 60 percent of its product under long-term contracts and will boost that figure to 70 percent in 2012, the company’s vice president for sales, Yury Okoemov, said in an exclusive interview with the Russian news agency Interfax.
“In the first half as a whole, our sales came to $1.97 billion, about 60 percent being sales under long-term agreements. Another 10 percent was sold at competitive trades, including auctions for the sale of diamonds of special size. The remaining 30 percent, that was sales under one-time contracts and on the spot market,” Okoemov said.
ALROSA now has long-term deals with buyers from 24 companies representing four countries — Russia, Belgium, India and Israel. ALROSA is also negotiating with companies in China, Armenia and Belarus, as well as a number of additional companies in Russia, Israel and India.
— Additional reporting provided by Acquire Media.
Namdeb Invests to Extend Marine Mining
Namdeb budgeted $1 billion to invest during the next ten years to extend the life of its marine diamond mining operations through 2050, Reuters reported. Namibia’s existing deposits are due to be depleted by 2014, but Namdeb, a joint venture between De Beers and the government, believes it can find an additional 68 million carats along the shoreline, specifically between the high-water mark and 70 meters underwater, according to Reuters.
Mitford Mundell, Namdeb’s general manager, said that the company is highly confident regarding the presence of at least 10 million carats and that a new sampling technique is currently being implemented. Managing director Inge Zaamwani-Kamwi said Namdeb was looking at a consortium of local banks to help finance the $1 billion investment, some of which will be used to develop shallow-water diamond mining techniques.
Namdeb is expecting output from its marine mining to rise 52 percent year on year to total around 500,000 carats in 2010, Reuters noted.
IGE Holds First Angola Sale
IGE Resources reported that the first sale of diamonds from its Luxinge mine in Angola, which began operating in early August, generated $483,600. A total of 6,045 carats of rough diamonds were sold for $80 per carat in line with previous projections. IGE holds a 42 percent stake in the mine’s holding company, Luxinge Mining Company, and estimated that the mine’s rough diamond resources total 1.1 million carats. A second sale is planned for September.
Stornoway Reaches Agreement With the Crees
Stornoway Diamond Corporation reached a predevelopment agreement on its Renard project with the Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee), the Cree Regional Authority, the Cree Nation of Mistissini and DIAQUEM. The Renard project is a joint venture with DIAQUEM, a wholly owned subsidiary of Québec’s SOQUEM. The new agreement facilitates business and employment opportunities for the Crees during the project’s predevelopment period.
Renard is located approximately 155 miles north of the community of Mistissini in the James Bay region of north central Québec and falls under the environmental protection regime of the James Bay and Northern Québec Agreement.
In March 2010, Stornoway concluded that the project could produce approximately 30 million carats over the mine’s 25-year lifespan. The total capital investment is estimated at $511 million, with an average operating expenditure of approximately $67 million per year and a workforce of 300 people.
Pending the completion of all applicable mine feasibility and environmental and social impact assessments, the receipt of all regulatory approvals and a positive production decision by the project’s partners, Stornoway currently anticipates that mine production will commence by the end of 2013.
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - September 2010. To subscribe click here.