Aikhal Diamond Mine Hits Maximum Capacity

One of the Alrosa's three large underground diamond mines is now running at peak capacity, the Russian state-owned diamond company said. Approximately half a million tons of ore are now being extracted from the Aikhal diamond mine every year, Diamond Intelligence reports.

At its maximum production levels, the Aikhal mine is expected to bequeath about 2.5 million carats of rough diamonds every year. A 2012 audit confirmed that the mine contains 14 million carats of stones in total, and may contain up to 54 million more carats.

Aikhal, which has been mined for diamonds for over half a century now, started out as an open-pit mining operation, according to Diamond Intelligence. Between 1997 and 2005, Alrosa converted the site into an underground mine, and by 2009 it was harvesting a quarter million tons of ore from Aikhal annually.

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