Alrosa has recovered a 390.7 carat diamond from its Mayat mine in Yakutia, the largest gem quality rough discovered in Russia in 10 years.
The stone is irregularly shaped, has a light colour and is surrounded by a yellow-brown halo, the company said on Sunday. The miner found the diamond while washing rough from the Ebelyakh part of the deposit overnight, along with a colourless diamond with a traditional octahedron shape weighing 37.7 carats.
In 2013, Alrosa found a gem-quality 401-carat rough, noting.
“The discovery of one of the largest diamonds in Russian history is undoubtedly an unprecedented event and an excellent finale to the 2023 mining season,” said Alrosa CEO Pavel Marinychev. “Experts have yet to study and evaluate in detail the potential of the mined diamond and its characteristics, but this is undoubtedly a record for both our company and the country’s diamond industry.”
In August, the miner announced its first results for over a year. First-half revenues rose slightly to RUB 188.16 billion ($1.9 billion), compared with RUB 187.88 billion ($1.9 billion) a year earlier. Profits fell 35% to RUB 55.57 billion ($562.5 million). The company stopped publishing its results in March 2022, after the war in Ukraine cut it off from much of the global industry.
