Alrosa Unearths Bauble and Puppy Diamonds for Christmas

(IDEX Online) - Miners at Alrosa unearthed two "Christmas diamonds" - one shaped like a bauble, the other like a puppy.

Both rough gems were found at the Severalmaz processing plant, part of the Lomonosov deposit, in Arkhangelsk region, northwestern Russia.

The diamond shaped like a Christmas tree bauble weighs 17.03 carats, the puppy-shaped gems weighs 2.70 carats.

Diamonds recovered from Lomonosov often exhibit unusual morphological features due to the site's unique geological conditions, according to Ilya Zezin, chief geologist at Severalmaz.

"Our diamonds have interesting morphological features and stand out from other deposits with their more rounded shapes and greater number of facets," he said.

Lomonosov formed where continents smashed together 1.9 billion years ago in Russia's Baltic shield, twisting diamonds under huge pressure into rounded, fancy shapes.

In 2024, Alrosa, Russia's state-controlled diamond miner, unearthed a Christmas tree-shaped diamond, also at the Lomonosov deposit.

Pic courtesy Alrosa.