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The Russian diamond miner said its weak performance was due to the appreciation of the ruble against the dollar and a drop in the average price of diamonds sold.
Alrosa’s Mir diamond mine in Siberia
Moscow--Revenue was down 17 percent and net profit declined 46 percent in the first half of the year, diamond miner Alrosa reported last week.
Revenue in the six-month period was RUB 155.6 billion ($2.71 billion) while net profit was RUB 48.9 billion ($850 million).
The company attributed its weaker performance in the first six months of the year to the 18 percent appreciation of the ruble against the dollar and a 15 percent drop in the average price of the diamonds sold due to changes in the diamond mix.
Alrosa noted that by the end of 2016, it had many small rough diamonds that went unsold because of the demonetization program in India. These inventories sold in the first half of the year as demand improved. In the second quarter, the volumes and sales mix stabilized, allowing the average price of diamonds to grow 20 percent quarter over quarter.
First half diamond sales grew by 12 percent to 24.3 million carats, compared with 21.7 million carats last year, and diamond production was up 14 percent to reach 19.3 million carats.
The diamond miner’s initial production target of 39.2 million carats to for 2017 remains unchanged.
It noted that production volumes missing due to the Aug. 4 flooding accident at the Mir underground mine will be offset by higher output at other mines, primarily the Jubilee pipe.
Alrosa also announced Thursday that the company has invited an auditor with experience working in an underground diamond mining facility to conduct an independent audit to assess the decisions and actions at the design, construction and operation stages of Mir underground mining following the early August incident, which resulted in the death of eight miners.
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