Alrosa auctioning large rough diamonds in Asia

Russian diamond mining major Alrosa is currently holding an auction in Hong Kong for large rough diamonds, and will soon start a second one in Vladivostok. The Hong Kong auction started on June 13 and will run to June 27. The Vladivostok auction will start on June 18 and conclude onJune 29. In both cases, the rough stones being auctioned will each weigh more than 10.8 ct.

Both auctions will involve gem-quality stones. In Hong Kong, the corporation is auctioning 105 lots with a total weight of 1 620 ct. In Vladivostok, it will auction 130 lots with a total weight of 2 149 ct. The diamonds come from Alrosa itself and two of its subsidiaries: Alrosa-Nyurba and Severalmaz. The group has invited 150 companies, from Belgium, China, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Russia, the United Arab Emirates and the US to attend the auctions.

“Interaction with the Asia-Pacific countries is one of Alrosa’s key activities today,” pointed out USO Alrosa executive committee member and director Evgeny Agureev. “Vladivostok and Hong Kongare two excellent sites for attracting customers from these regions. Moreover, thanks to the good demand noted at the previous auctions, we decided to revisethe previously approved schedule and to hold not two but four auctions in Vladivostok in 2018.”

In addition, there will be anotherauction in Hong Kong this year. It willbe part of the Hong Kong Jewellery andGem Fair, being held in September.

Separately, Alrosa has been ranked among the top five companies in the ’Polar Index’ sustainability rating for Russian enterprises operating in the Arctic. The index has been drawn up by the project office of Arctic Development and Lomonosov Moscow State University’s Faculty of Economics (Department of Environmental Economics).

The index is based on the United Nations-approved concept of sustainable development. “It takes into consideration a number of parameters, divided into three groups: economic, social and environmental,” explained Alrosa inits press release. “At the second stage,an expert survey is carried out in theform of a questionnaire.“Experts put scores on a ten-point scale to all participating companies in three blocks of questions – economic, social and environmental. The questionnaire takes into account the territorial specifics as much as possible; the questions are devoted to the work of companies precisely in arctic conditions.”

Alrosa is responsible for nearly 33%of global rough diamond production.Its name is an acronym; the full titleof the company is Joint Stock Company Almazy Rossii-Sakha.The Russian federal government owns fractionally more than 33% of the group, the Sakha (regional) government holds 25%, eight municipal districts within Sakha together have 8% and just under34% is free-floating (owned by other entities and by individuals).