ALROSA’s investment committee has approved financing for preliminary engineering studies at the Jubilee mine, the Company declared recently.  This, the Company believes, will provide it with updated information, on the basis of which any future decision on the construction of the underground mine can be taken.

So far, ALROSA has been working the Jubilee pipe of its Aikhal division through the open-pit method.

“In 2019, the company considered technical specifications and decided to start preliminary works to set the stage for design and engineering of the prospective underground mine to extract reserves from deeper horizons of the pipe (from -100 m to -680 m levels),” ALROSA explained.

As part of the studies, for which a budget of around RUB 63 million have been approved, the Company will prepare engineering surveys as well as conduct feasibility studies for the underground mine and infrastructure.   

“Jubilee mine of 480 m pit depth has a mining capacity of 5.2 mtpa,” ALROSA said. “According to the current production plan, it will operate until 2034 with a pit deepening to 720 m (corresponds to -100 m mark).”

The company expects to get the feasibility study for the Jubilee underground mine construction as well as updated resources and reserves in 2022. A final decision on the project implementation will base on these documents.

The Jubilee pipe of ALROSA’s Aikhal Division has been operational since 1959, yielding more than 70 unique gem-quality diamonds, including the 235.16 ct stone “Town of Vilyuysk”, discovered in September 2013. It produced 7.2 mln ct of rough diamonds in 2019.