Almazy Anabara, a subsidiary of Russian State-miner Alrosa, has exceeded its production target by 9%, delivering a record mining throughput in the 2018 washing season, with 5.4-million carats having been mined.
The 2018 washing season lasted from May to September.
"Such results were achieved due to, without limitation, the advanced diamond-bearing sand processing technology. In particular, we have upgraded the X-ray luminescent separation line to decrease workload of dense-media separation units at the Bolshaya Kuonamka deposit and to increase capacity of grading units," Almazy Anabara CEO Pavel Marinychev said in a statement on Friday.
He also noted that favourable weather conditions helped to achieve positive dynamics, as the production time at placer mines was extended.
Almazy Anabara has continued development of new promising sites in 2018.
"We opened the new Khara-Mas site in tundra zone this year. In accordance with the results of the completed washing season, we can confirm that the site turned out to be promising, and all of its planned indicators were confirmed by the final results," said Marinychev.
The company also plans to expand production at its existing sites, with output at the deposits of Ebelyakh to increase by one-million carats next year.
Almazy Anabara started ancillary mining of gold in last year and has mined more than 80 kg in 2017, followed by 113 kg of gold this year.