Russian diamonds

The Aikhal Mining and Processing Division also contributed significantly with its production of 12.08 million carats of diamonds with its production, a 3 million carats increase in production from the previous year. Some of this success is attributed to a diamond rich level of ore at Jubilee pipe. These two pipes represent 33 percent of ALROSA's overall production volume. Aikhal's underground mine reached its project capacity of 3 million carats, which is a 22 percent increase from the prior year.

The purpose and hope is that the marketing campaign launched by ALROSA and its subsidiaries will introduce a new brand of diamonds with an emphasis on fine makes (triple excellent cuts), brilliant material, and unique colors. Another appealing factor is that the Russians diamond industry is conflict free as well as ecologically friendly as it is regulated by the government of Russia. All these reasons lend significant credibility to their campaign.

The Arkhangelskaya is a special mine because it contains 67% of near jewelry quality gems and only 18% industrial quality. The majority of the diamonds are white in color, with around 1% being fancy colors, with the spectrum being yellow, green, violet and pink. Three of those pink diamonds were sold Saturday's in 2013. Despite only being 1% of the mine colors that in itself is a game changer. So far the largest diamond the Lomonosov mine has produced is a 106.64 carat stone.