Huge diamond extracted in time for Valetine's Day

By The Siberian Times reporter

11 February 2016

But there are questions over privatisation of mining giant Alrosa, the world's largest producer.

The Jubilee pipe is famous for its large finds. Picture: Alrosa

The large diamond of 121.96 carats - and worth around $1.5 million - is from the Jubilee kimberlite pipe in the Sakha Republic, also known as Yakutia, the largest constituent of the Russian Federation.

'The diamond has an octahedral shape, its dimensions are 31.28 x 30.00 x 28.57 mm,' announced Alrosa.

Its quality is 'transparent with moderate yellowish hue. There are small olivine, graphite and sulphide inclusions in this crystal'.

The Jubilee pipe is famous for its large finds. It was extracted by the company's business unit Aikhal Mining and Processing Division (MPD) at the Yubileinaya mine.

The announcement - ahead of Valentine's Day- came as Alrosa announced a 10% profit decline in 2015. This was despite a 16% increase in revenue.

122 carat diamond extracted in Russia

122 carat diamond extracted in Russia
The diamond is 121.96 carats and worth around $1.5 million. Pictures: Alrosa

Deputy Russian Prime Minister Yury Trutnev said in regional capital Yautsk this week that Alrosa was undervalued for privatisation purposes.

'Take any textbook on investing, go to the very first page and there it will ask you: when should you sell shares? Answer - when they are at their peak,' he said.

'And what do we have in the world market today? It's in a trough. Are we going to sell at bottom? The question is, have we chosen the right time for this?'

Trutnev is Russian president Vladimir Putin's envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District.

Comments (2)

All comments
Best rated comments

Add comment

I am not a fan of diamonds personally (they are not all girls "best friends"....:-) ). I place a much higher value on the very special hand-painted broach that I have from Russia, but from a business perspective, I certainly agree, do not sell low and stay away from hedge funds (US and any others). I have a feeling people in Russia understand this very well and Enrique is also trying to give good advice.

Pamela Tetarenko, League City, USA

15/02/2016 04:40

Note that stockholders (US hedge funds essentially) from Twitter, a company which never made a profit losing $ 500 millions a year, without assets and just $ 1 bn. revenues, can boast an stock value of $ 50 bn...could take control of ALL Russian companies with huge assets and $ billions in profits.

So, bankrupt money-losing companies like Twitter and Uber, could take control of Russia for one kopec.

Enrique, Spain

12/02/2016 04:58