This year, the AGD Diamonds mining company plans to produce 4.5 million carats of diamonds, unchanged from the 2023 level, said its CEO Mikhail Bakov as quoted by the Prime agency.
“In 2023, [we mined] 19.5 million cubic meters of rock mass and 4.5 million tons of kimberlite, and 4.5 million carats were produced. Plans for 2024 practically repeat the indicators for 2023, there are only natural deviations due to the geometry of the quarry: with its further deepening, the amount of overburden rock decreases,” Bakov said at a meeting with the governor of the Arkhangelsk region Alexander Tsybulsky.
According to the regional government, this year the company plans to continue exploration work for new diamond deposits in the Arkhangelsk region, as well as improve its sales strategy.
“With open-pit mining as of today, we are at the -200m level. The project is planned to reach a -350m level. Below us there is still quite a lot of pure kimberlite and many millions of carats of diamonds,” Bakov concluded.
Theodor Lisovoy, Editor in Chief of the European bureau, Rough&Polished
