Moscow: ALROSA sold 18 million carats of rough diamonds for $2.1 billion in the first half of 2015, representing a significant decline from a year earlier. The mining company sold 21.1 million carats for $2.7 billion in the first six months of 2014.

• ALROSA noted a continued slowdown in the diamond market during the second quarter of this year.
• The miner’s rough prices declined by 3 percent during the three months ended June 30 and by 6 percent in the first half of the year.
• The company sold 5.4 million carats of gem-quality diamonds at an average price of $176 per carat during the second quarter and 3.4 million carats of industrial diamonds for an average $11 per carat.
• Second-quarter production grew 20 percent year on year to 9.6 million carats, while production through the first half increased 13 percent to 18 million carats.
• The average grade achieved improved to 1.11 carats per tonne for the six-month period, up from 1.02 carats per tonne a year earlier.
• The company processed extra stockpiles of higher-grade ore from the open pit Udachnaya pipe.
• Production at the Mir underground mine almost doubled due to measures to reduce water inflow.
• The first 481,000 carats were recovered from the Botuobinskaya pipe following its launch in March 2015.