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Alrosa Inaugurates Aikhal Underground Mine

Alrosa on Sunday inaugurated a new underground mine in the mining town of Aikhal, in the Russian Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The Russian diamond miner plans to extract 500 thousand tons of diamond ore annually.

The new mine is the third underground mine put into operation by Alrosa and has an expected mine life of 25 years. Alrosa said it invested RUB 8.89 billion ($291 million) in the construction of the mine, which will employ 600 people when it reaches full capacity.

The diamond pipe of Aikhal ("glory" in Yakutian) was discovered in 1960 and the first diamonds there were recovered in August 1961. It operated as an open-pit mine for almost four decades.

Construction of the underground operation was carried out as diamond production at the depleting open-pit mine continued. In 2009, some 100 thousand tons of ore were produced there.

Alrosa is also currently expanding production capacities at the Mir mine and continuing to build another underground mine at Udachny.