Russia's ALROSA to raise 2015 production at Mir mine by 66%

MOSCOW, Feb 26 (PRIME) -- Russian uncut diamond mining giant ALROSA plans to increase production at its Mir mine by 66% to 750,000 tonnes of ore in 2015, Mikhail Lopatinsky, CEO of ALROSA’s Mirninsky mining and processing plant, said in an interview to the corporate magazine Thursday.

“We have planned a production increase by almost 66% to 750,000 tonnes in 2015. Pre-production works will amount to 79,500 cubic meters,” Lopatinsky said, adding that the mine will be able to operate for 30 to 35 years under the proven production capacity.

A reconstruction and development program says the Mir mine will work at its design capacity of 1 million tonnes of ore in 2016. In 2014, ALROSA to sped up mining works and decreased output to 452,000 tonnes from the planned 650,000 tonnes.

Under the program, the company also decreased output at its International mine to 450,000 tonnes of kimberlite ore in 2014, and plans to raise it to the projected capacity of 500,000 tonnes in 2015, Lopatinsky said.

In December 2014, ALROSA said it plans to increase its diamond output by 6% to 38.2 million carats through raising ore production at the Mir, Udachny and International mines.

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