Image credit: ALROSA
Alexey Moiseev, Russia’s Deputy Finance Minister said in an interview with RIA Novosti, that ALROSA is studying the lab-grown diamond market but is not planning partnerships with producers of lab-grown diamonds.
In July, in an interview with Interfax, Yuri Trutnev, Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District, speaking about the possibility of diversifying the activities of the diamond mining company, noted that the future of diamond jewelry is at high risk due to the production of man-made diamonds. “It seems to me that ALROSA needs to think about the future in more detail,” he said.
Later, in early December this year, Yuri Trutnev said that so far he did not plan to insist on diversifying the company's activities.
In his interview, Alexey Moiseev, speaking about diversification, noted that mining of diamonds at ALROSA is very different from mining of other minerals. “This is a completely different market, a completely different technology and there is no synergy there,” he said, mentioning however the work of Almazy Anabara, part of the ALROSA Group, which carries out associated gold mining at the deposits of its core business.
Saying that ALROSA's Supervisory Board monitors the development of the synthetic stones market, Alexey Moiseev said: “ALROSA always studies the state of the synthetic market, but there are no plans to conclude agreements on the production of lab-grown diamonds.”
“In general, we take this position: if there is something suitable, we will study it,” he continued. “Deliberately, purposefully going for diversification is too expensive, it can undermine the financial position of the company, since it will lead to an increase in significant amounts of debt with little result.”
Vladimir Malakhov, Rough&Polished
