Alrosa Finds “Unique” Diamond, Pegs Price at One Mill

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In a statement released on Tuesday, diamond-mining giant Alrosa said that it found a “unique” diamond weighing 145.44 carats (29 grammes/1 ounce). According to specialists at Alrosa’s Diamond-Sorting Centre, the gem could fetch up to 1 million USD (30.13 million Roubles. 750,000 Euros. 640,000 UK Pounds). Alrosa said that it discovered the clear octahedral-shaped diamond (with a yellowish cast) late last month in Yakutia; it measures 35 x 20 x 26 millimetres (1.4 x 0.8 x 1 inch). Last September, Alrosa found an even larger gem-grade diamond at another of its Yakutia mines, which it valued at more than 1.5 million USD (45.2 million Roubles. 1.125 million Euros. 960,000 UK Pounds), and said that it could split it into several high-quality cut diamonds.

The latest find comes from deep within the Yubileynaya diamond pipe at Factory No 14 of Alrosa’s Aykhalsky facility. In October, the same pipe yielded an enormous industrial-grade diamond weighing 888.15 carats (178 grammes/6.25 ounces). The company said that the unclear (greyish-green in hue) stone was the fourth-heaviest diamond ever produced in Russia. Russia has the largest known diamond deposits in the world and Alrosa accounts for 97 percent of Russian production. The principal regions of production are Yakutia (AKA Sakha Republic), Perm, and Arkhangelsk. Alrosa accounts for 25 percent of the world’s diamond production. In 2011, the company produced 34.6 million carats (6,920 metric tons/7,628 US tons) of diamonds, which fetched 4.45 billion USD (134.1 billion Roubles. 3.3 billion Euros. 2.85 billion UK Pounds). Experts expect that the figures for 2012 production, not yet fully calculated, should total about 34.4 million carats (6,880 metric tons/7,584 US tons), which would garner 4.5 billion USD (135.6 billion Roubles. 3.4 billion Euros. 2.9 billion UK Pounds).

12 February 2013

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/business/20130212/179425272/Russias-Alrosa-Finds-Unique-Diamond-Tags-It-at-1M.html

8 September 2012. RIA-Novosti Infographics. Nord Stream to Europe Across the Baltic Sea

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6 September 2012

RIA-Novosti

http://en.ria.ru/infographics/20120906/175777280.html

8 September 2012. RIA-Novosti Infographics. South Stream Pipeline Project

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5 September 2012

RIA-Novosti

http://en.ria.ru/infographics/20120905/175767062.html

Putin Sez Russia Prepared for Possible Economic Meltdown

Look at the above image… it’s not only an apt one for the global economy, it’s spot-on accurate insofar as your 401k is concerned. Isn’t the enrichment of soulless Wall Street piranhas grand (smile, Mittens is watching you)? After all, they NEED the money for their wetback gardeners and nannies…

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On Thursday, President Vladimir Putin said that the Russian economy’s prepared for a possible economic meltdown because of a slowing of global growth and the escalating Euro Zone debt crisis. At a meeting with regional ombudsmen, Putin said the situation was complex in the European and global economies, saying, “In the USA, the engine of the world economy, the situation looks better, but macroeconomic indices that are vital for the economy’s sustainability are no better than in Europe. Their debt [in the USA] is 104 percent [of American GDP]”. He pointed up that aside from this, the American financial system’s burdened with mortgage loans issued against state guarantees. Putin added, “All these factors cause certain alarm. Now, news is coming that China’s economic development rates have slightly slowed and declined, and China is one of the world’s largest consumers. No doubt, these are alarming signals. Let’s hope that these concerns don’t transform into a full-blown crisis. Let’s hope for the better, but prepare for the worst”.

He said that, in 2011, the Russian government started to prepare anti-crisis measures to respond to unfavourable economic developments, saying, “We also agreed to set aside quite a substantial sum for the start of next year in the 2013 budget as the government’s operational reserve, so that we can respond effectively and energetically to crisis factors, if they emerge”, adding the Russian economy was currently demonstrating healthy parameters. The Finance Ministry said its drafting several crisis budget scenarios to cater for low oil prices. Earlier this year, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Lavrov said, “We’re currently checking the resilience of the federal budget, and holding stress tests to study its exposure to sharp changes in external economic conditions. We’re calculating revenues to estimate their levels at an oil price of 80 USD (2,540 Roubles. 64 Euros. 50 UK Pounds) per barrel or even 60 USD (1,900 Roubles. 48 Euros. 38 UK Pounds) per barrel”.

 16 August 2012

RIA-Novosti

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20120816/175253411.html