The government of Russia’s Yakutia region, which has a stake in diamond producer Alrosa, has proposed the company sell rough diamonds worth $0.5-billion to $1-billion to the precious metals and gems repository Gokhran in 2020, Interfax news agency reported.
Diamond miners are battling falling demand, as well as competition from diamonds manufactured in laboratories. Alrosa is the world’s largest producer of rough diamonds in carat terms. Together with Anglo American’s De Beers unit, it produces about half of the world’s rough diamonds.