Diamond miner Alrosa has received regulatory approval to open up and develop reserves at the upper horizons of the International underground mine, near Mirny, the Russian company said on Wednesday.
The ore from the upper horizons would be received as early as in the fourth quarter, with capacity gradually increasing in coming years, said Alrosa deputy CEO and COO Igor Sobolev.
“This project has been included in all production and investment plans and it allows developing all commercial reserves of the deposit in a completely safe way. The company has already built the third, 347.4 m-long shaft to extract these reserves,” he said in a statement.