(IDEX Online) - Alrosa says it expects to pay shareholders a dividend for the first half of 2023, as long as the diamond market remains stable.It marks a change in fortunes for the Russian state-controlled miner, which last paid a dividend at the end of 2021.Aisen Nikolaev, head of Yakutia, the republic where Alrosa is based, told the Interfax news agency: "We agreed with the country's government: if we do not see a deterioration in the economic situation on the diamond market in the first half of the year, then we will return to the issue of paying dividends."Last year, after the US imposed sanctions, Alrosa said it wouldn't be paying out a dividend in order to ""maintain sustainability of its operations".In the first half of 2021, Alrosa paid out just over $1bn (RUB64.7bn) to shareholders, more than 70 per cent of the company's net profit for the year.Alrosa is to begin work on reviving the Mir mine later this year and says it is may diversify into mining other minerals.Pic shows the Mir Mine