Mining at Alrosa's Zarya to start next year

Russian diamond mining group Alrosa’s Zarya diamond deposit in Sakha (Yakutia) is in its final stages before diamond mining will start next year.

Since 2016, ten-million-cubic-metres of overburden were removed from the openpit mine, reaching a depth of 100 m. Drainage ditch construction, and installation and adjustment of the pumping unit at the mine will be completed this year.

The openpit mine construction will be completed in 2019 and is expected to reach mining capability of 1.2-million tonnes of ore yearly in 2021.

Total diamond resources of the deposit are estimated to contain 3.5-million carats of diamonds worth more than $1-billion. Its development will allow replacing falling-out reserves of the Komsomolskaya pipe – on which mining operations are nearing completion.

The development of Zarya is planned to a depth of 300 m with the extraction of a total 12-million tonnes of ore, depleting in 2030.

The average diamond content is estimated at 0.28 c/t of ore. The total investment will be about 12-billion ruble.