De Beers shines light on budding jewellery designers

Diamond giant De Beers will this year conduct its bi-annual Shining Light Awards jewellery design competition. De Beers beneficiation manager Kagiso Fredericks told Rough & Polished's Mathew Nyaungwa in an exclusive interview they set aside 4.5 carats...

22 july 2024

DiaMondaine Diamantaires Club mulls diamond safari tours in southern Africa

DiaMondaine Diamantaires Club (DDC) is set to organise diamond safari tours in southern Africa, home to major diamond-producing countries. DDC founder Agnes Abdulahu told Rough&Polished’s Mathew Nyaungwa that the launch of the first diamond safari...

15 july 2024

Vladislav Zhdanov: Questions of efficiency and investment potential of diamond mining versus diamond growing pique keen interest

Vladislav Zhdanov is Professor at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE). He told Rough&Polished about new researches into the effectiveness of diamond production methods.

02 july 2024

Why it's expensive to cut and polish diamonds in Africa? ADMA president António Oliveira has the answer

The African Diamond Manufacturers Association (ADMA) president António Oliveira told Rough&Polished’s Mathew Nyaungwa in an exclusive interview that the lack of a robust infrastructure in Africa fails to accelerate and encourage manufacturing...

24 june 2024

Edahn Golan: IPO feasible but not Anglo’s preferred way to sell De Beers

Edahn Golan, owner of the eponymous Edahn Golan Diamond Research and Data, told Rough&Polished's Mathew Nyaungwa in an exclusive interview that while an IPO of De Beers is “feasible,"  he does not think this is a route Anglo American...

17 june 2024

Nornickel signs cooperation agreements with two Russian software developers

09 february 2024

Nornickel has signed cooperation agreements with two Russian software developers — RED SOFT and Bazalt SPO. Partnership with IT companies will help Nornickel gain access to modern and reliable information technologies, in particular, Linux-based operating systems, but also foster a direct dialog with developers and join efforts to achieve technological sovereignty of its IT infrastructure.

Nornickel held a series of demo days in Moscow and Norilsk, at which Russian suppliers presented modern local solutions capable of replacing the services of foreign companies that have left the Russian market. These included replacement of workstation operating systems, server operating systems, Active Directory and other services. Nornickel’s demo days also serve as a platform for signing partnership agreements.

The parties agreed to cooperate in the development, implementation and promotion of Russian digital products, to create and develop joint solutions for managing corporate network infrastructure, to jointly develop operating systems with built-in security features, and to improve practical experience in the application of Russian solutions.

Liana Ermishina, Vice President for Information Technology at Nornickel, commented: “The transition of Nornickel’s IT infrastructure to locally procured software is a task of strategic importance. Participation of our specialists at all stages, from testing, piloting to commissioning, will allow us to increase efficiency and minimize risks during the implementation of the import substitution project. ”

Partnership with RED SOFT is aimed at joining efforts and identifying best practices to achieve technological sovereignty. The cooperation agreement with Bazalt SPO will allow it to work more closely together in future when adapting vendor’s solutions to meet the IT requirements of Nornickel.

RED SOFT is a Russian IT solutions and services provider. The company creates and implements complex projects in the field of data storage and management based on its own industrial application software. Bazalt SPO is a developer of the Alt line of Russian operating systems for workstations, servers and virtual infrastructure.

Theodor Lisovoy, Editor in Chief of the European bureau, Rough&Polished