Alrosa said it received regulatory approval from Russia’s Glavgosexpertiza (the Main Department of State Expertize) to open up and develop reserves at the upper horizons of the International (Inter) underground mine. The production is expected to start in Q4 2020.
Underground mining at the International kimberlite pipe started in 1999.
“This year we start a planned development of the upper horizons of the Inter underground mine. This project has been included in all production and investment plans and it allows developing all commercial reserves of the deposit in a completely safe way. The company has already built the third, 347.4m long shaft to extract these reserves. The ore from the upper horizons to be received as early as in Q4 2020 with the capacity gradually increasing in coming years. We expect to mine these reserves for about 10 years,” said Igor Sobolev, Alrosa First Deputy CEO and COO.
The International (Inter) kimberlite pipe was discovered in 1969 just 16km from the town of Mirny. This is a high-grade diamond deposit with JORC reserves estimated at around 49.6 million carats with grades exceeding 6.7 carats per ton of ore as of 1st July, 2018. In 2019, the mine produced 2.2 million carats of diamonds.
Caption: Workers inside a tunnel at the International underground mine pit.
Source: Alrosa