The world’s largest diamond miner by volume Alrosa, earlier this month released its first ever Impact Report, which summarises its social and economic progress in Yakutia – which hosts 90% of Alrosa’s operations – over the last decade.
Yakutia is one of the world’s richest regions in terms of natural resources. However, it faces extreme weather conditions, and all the infrastructure and public facilities need to be renovated on a regular basis.
Alrosa’s diamond mining activities in Yakutia have significantly contributed to the region's development, as it “strives to create better living conditions for its local communities”. Key aspects of Alrosa’s social mission are to increase access to housing, medical care, education, and cultural activities, while providing local communities with improved infrastructure.
Alrosa CEO Sergey Ivanov said: “We are pleased to publish our very first Impact Report. This is an important milestone that demonstrates our commitment to transparency and implementing our long-term sustainable development strategy. Our key focus [is] ensuring the wellbeing of our people [while] leveraging our long-standing presence in the region to sustainably unlock its full potential. We are therefore creating jobs, guaranteeing our workers a competitive salary and benefits, and helping build schools, hospitals and sports facilities. Much work remains to be done, and we look forward to continuing to build on our progress to ensure a sustainable future for generations to come.”
Impact Highlights
Between 2010 and 2020, Alrosa contributed about $22-billion to Yakutia’s local economy, which receives most of its funding from diamond mining and sales in the form of taxes and dividends. Additionally, it supports local communities through the procurement of goods and services from small and medium-sized enterprises.
It contributed a total of $8.4-billion in taxes, while the total dividends paid to Yakutia and its eight administrative districts amounted to $1.7-billion.
Alrosa’s salary contributions totalled $7.2-billion. It has strengthened its payroll programme over the last decade by introducing a three-fold increase in the average salary of its local employees.
The company invested $5-billion in social development, infrastructure, housing and utilities in the region. On top of this, it makes yearly pension contributions which amount to roughly $29-million to $38-million. In 2020 alone, Alrosa contributed a total of $141-million to social investments and pensions.