Russian miner Alrosa generated a total of US$11.8 million from a diamond auction in New York, its first sale this year. The company offered a range of special-sized diamonds of over 10.8 carats.

A total of 107 stones with an overall weight of 1,900 carats were sold. More than 30 companies from the largest international trade centres such as the US, Israel, Belgium, India and the United Arab Emirates participated in the auction.

“We sold almost 90 percent of the offered lots. In general, the market is experiencing an increase in activity and interest in our products is stable,” noted Alrosa. “The overall sales exceeded the total opening bid by 50 percent. This is by far our highest revenue from a single auction since we resumed operations in the US.”

Last year, Alrosa reopened its New York office and held two diamond auctions with overall revenues amounting to US$18.3 million. The company’s auction schedule for 2019 includes four auctions in the US.