Alrosa Streamlines its Polishing Operations
October 26, 20
(IDEX Online) - Alrosa is streamlining its manufacturing operations, which are currently run as three separate entities.
The Russian state-owned miner says the creation of a single production framework will allocate diamond output more efficiently between three sites, and allow them to provide mutual back-up if the pandemic forces further closures.
Between them they currently account for half of the country's polished diamond output.
In May Alrosa has halted almost all its diamond cutting operations, saying there was no market because of COVID-19.
Alrosa has a factory in Moscow that cuts larger stones and one in Barnaul, Siberia, for two-six grainers. They jointly sold over $95m of polished goods in 2018.
In addition it recently acquired the Kristall factory, in Smolensk, which processes over 200,000 carats of rough diamonds a year.
"Our current priority is integrating all our cutting and polishing facilities into a single production framework," said Dmitry Amelkin, Alrosa's newly-appointed transformation director, who will oversee the consolidation.
Pic shows Alrosa polishing operation