Russia Has Halted Mining Operations At One Of Its Largest Diamond Deposits
1- 9.11.2026, 23:29
Because of losses amounting to billions.
The Russian diamond mining company Alrosa has suspended operations at a number of deposits to cut costs, the company’s CEO Pavel Marinychev said on Monday.
According to him, the suspension includes deposits operated by the subsidiary “Almazy Anabara,” which is the world’s largest diamond mining company specializing in alluvial deposits and accounts for 11% of all diamonds mined by the Alrosa Group, as reported by The Moscow Times.
“We have suspended production at our least profitable deposits… We are optimizing our costs,” explained Marinychev (as quoted by RIA Novosti).
This year, Alrosa—one-third of which is owned by Rosimushchestvo and another 25% by the government of Yakutia—posted a loss for the first time in six years. According to its IFRS financial statements, the company lost 9.5 billion rubles in the first half of the year. Alrosa’s revenue fell 33% year-over-year, EBITDA dropped 61% to 14.3 billion rubles, and free cash flow (the difference between cash inflows and outflows) turned negative. Alrosa’s cash gap for the first half of the year totaled 16.9 billion rubles, and 33.2 billion rubles over the past 12 months.
Subject to Western sanctions since 2022, Alrosa reduced its production by 10% last year, to 29.8 million carats. And this year, it forecasts a further decline of 13–16%, to 25–26 million carats.
To cut costs, last year Alrosa reduced the salaries of employees not directly involved in mining by 10%, switched some to part-time work, and also suspended operations at some mines. In June, Alrosa decided to mothball mining operations at the Severalmaz enterprise, which accounts for about 10% of the country’s diamond production.
According to Marinichev, these cost-cutting measures were already factored into Alrosa’s budget for the current year. But they may not be enough: it is possible that the company will have to resort to new cost-cutting measures, the top executive said.
Bank's name: Bank Millennium S.A.
Address: ul. Stanislawa Zaryna, 2A, 02-593, Warszawa
IBAN: PL97116022020000000216711123
SWIFT: BIGBPLPW
Name of the account holder: Fundacja “KARTA ‘97”
Purpose/title of payment: Donation for statuary aims
You can contact us by the e-mail charter97@gmail.com
