By John Helmer in Moscow For weeks, Alrosa, Russia’s diamond mining challenger to De Beers, has been waiting for the appearance of a miracle to keep the mines producing at last year’s volumes, and avoid layoffs and financial damage to the fareastern region of Sakha, where Alrosa is the chief income generator. That miracle is […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, March 26th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Despite a blackout of news from Archangel Diamond Corporation (AAD:CN), the Canadian mining junior will seek US court orders to oblige two key Russian executives to give testimony on oath in ADC’s claim that it has been unlawfully deprived of its stake in the multi-billion dollar Grib diamond pipe, in […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, March 11th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Sergei Vybornov, the chief executive officer of Alrosa for the past two years, is mobilizing federal government and industry support in Moscow to oppose a bid by Sakha President, Vyacheslav Shtirov, to replace him, and take over the top post at Alrosa. Shtirov made his bid at a meeting with […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Among the hard-pressed global diamond miners, only one, Russia’s Alrosa, has the capacity to sustain last year’s mining volumes without adding to the inventory overhang, or flooding the market, both of which will crush the price. This is because the Russian state stockpile agency Gokhran is ready to spend state […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, February 19th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Alrosa is negotiating with Lazare Kaplan International (LKI) to decide whether to renew their expiring rough supply and polishing contract, or wind up their relationship. The talks and the details of the longstanding relationship between the two companies remain shrouded in unusual secrecy. Alrosa sources say it is not certain […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, February 17th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Jonathan Oppenheimer, the embattled heir to Nicky Oppenheimer and to the struggling De Beers group, and Vagit Alekperov, chief executive and controlling shareholder of LUKoil, one of Russia’s leading oil producers, have started fighting again over the disputed Grib pipe; also known as the Verkhotina project in the northwestern Russian […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, January 29th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow With a 17-line announcement the Toronto-listed Archangel Diamond Corporation (ADC), a De Beers-affiliated company, has cancelled its agreement to mine diamonds in the Arkhangelsk region of northwestern Russia. Almost twenty years of exploration and mining effort, including the first major diamond discovery in western Russia for a century, have been […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, January 15th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow With the end of the year 2008, the last of the legendary diamond cartel deals has sunk back into the murk from which it originated when Cecil Rhodes created his African Diamond Syndicate in 1873. Forced three years ago by a ruling of the European Commission (EC) to halt trading […]

by John Helmer - Saturday, January 3rd, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Alrosa, Russia’s state-owned diamond miner, has reported that rough sales this year have slipped by 1.1%, and will slip by ten times that margin in 2009. Alrosa, a wholly state owned shareholding company controlled by the federal government, does not issue production and financial results by the half-year or quarter. […]

by John Helmer - Saturday, January 3rd, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow A 21-day ultimatum has been issued to the Russian government to put up the Grib pipe in Arkhangelsk for development by a joint venture between De Beers and LUKoil; or else De Beers will walk out of Russian diamond mining for good. Sources close to De Beers claim that some […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, December 10th, 2008
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