Alrosa Says Aikhal mine ore extraction has reached full capacity

Russian diamond mining giant Alrosa reports that ore extraction at its Aikhal underground mine has reached its design capacity of 500,000 tons per year.

With the start of the third stage of development at the underground mine, capacity has increased to 500,000 tons of ore to ensure annual diamond production of some 2.5 million carats.

Aikhal is one of Alrosa’s veteran deposits, with output from open-pit mining commencing in 1961 and continuing for close to four decades.

Alrosa began the first underground mining operations when the open pit was decommissioned in 1997. The first stage of development of the underground operations started in 2005, and the second, with a 250,000 tons of ore capacity, in 2009.

According to the results of an audit in 2012 under the JORC Code, the Aikhal pipe reserves exceed 14 million carats of rough diamonds, with inferred and indicated resources of more than 54 million carats.

Among Alrosa's other major ore-extraction projects are the International underground mine, with a design capacity for the removal of 500,000 tons of ore, the Mir underground mine with a current capacity of 500,000 tons of ore extraction and a design capacity of 1 million tons of ore to be reached in 2014.

Meanwhile, the first stage of the Udachny underground mine is expected to be commissioned in 2014.