ALROSA announced yesterday that the Lomonosov Division of its subsidiary Severalmaz,   will be cutting back on its diamond output for 2020. “This decision was driven by the closure of the Group’s key sales markets and a slump in demand for diamonds amid the coronavirus pandemic,” the Company said at the time of making the announcement.

Processing at the division, which was   suspended on May 16,  is expected to resume on July 1, 2020. After operating for three months, processing activities  will  be suspended once again until the end of year.

Mining operations which were suspended on May 12, are scheduled to restart on November 1, 2020.

Most  Severalmaz employees have been put on downtime with only a skeleton staff  being retained in operation; though  all  are still receiving payments under the collective agreement. Some others are on rotation leave.

While Severalmaz’s  production in 2019 totalled approximately 4.2 million carats; production in Q1 2020 amounted to 1.04 million carats of diamonds, which accounted for 13% of ALROSA Group’s total output.

 ALROSA has also temporarily suspended operations at the Aikhal underground mine and the Zarya open-pit mine of the Aikhal Division, and at the Udachny Division’s Verkhne-Munskoye deposit, as was reported earlier.

ALROSA Group’s guidance for 2020 diamond production was revised downward from 34 to 28–31 m carats. “Production cuts will help avoid the build-up of stocks of diamonds least sought after in the market and going forward will facilitate the recovery of the demand,” ALROSA concluded.