Russia's Alrosa boasts biggest pink diamond of all time

Russia's Alrosa boasts biggest pink diamond of all time
Russia's diamond miner finds its biggest ever pink diamond / Alrosa
By bne IntelliNews September 22, 2017

Russian uncut diamond major Alrosa mined a 27.85 carat pink diamond, the company said on August 21. The diamond is nearly seven times biggest than the previous record holder which had a weight of 3.86 carats.

It has dimensions of 22.47 x 15.69 x 10.9 mm. The gem has a saturated pink tone of jewellery quality and practically no defects, the company said.

"Experts of Alrosa are currently studying this gem to decide on whether to sell it as a raw diamond or cut it," Alrosa's spokesman Evgeny Agureev said.

"Big gems, especially of rare colours, traditionally enjoy high demand at auctions," he added. "Considering that no similar gems have been before in Alrosa’s history, we can say it will be the most valuable diamond Alrosa has ever found, if it is decided to cut the diamond up," the expert noted.

Alrosa's previous record-holding pink diamond was mined in 2012.

The company is in the middle of reforms, part of which include beefing up its cutting and polishing arm. Alrosa may have to take a number of steps for the domestic diamond polishing industry to comply with the development roadmap drawn up by the Finance Ministry, Kommersant reported in August 24.

Notably, the roadmap also includes continued efforts to attract a strategic investor into Alrosa's equity.

In 2016 the government successful held a secondary share offering (SPO) of 10.9% of Alrosa during a short-lived government privatisation drive.

In April-June, Alrosa reported a 14.4% q/q sales decline to $1.24bn as the future of its major Mir mine remained unclear, following an accident that killed eight miners. 

News

Dismiss