Alrosa mines Russia's first gem-quality blue diamond

MOSCOW. Nov 6 (Interfax) - Alrosa has mined Russia's first natural gem-quality blue diamond, the company said.

The 2.74-carat diamond was mined at the Nakyn kimberlite field, which hosts the Nyurba and Botuobinskaya diamonds pipes and is operated by the Mirny-Nyurba Mining and Processing Plant in Yakutia. This is the first discovery of such a diamond at a Russian deposit on record. The company is cutting and polishing the diamond and plans to unveil it at the end of November 2026.

The stone is a Type IIb diamond, one of the rarest and most valuable, colored blue by trace impurities of boron within the crystalline lattice structure. It is internally flawless which, combined with its rare natural color, makes it particularly valuable to jewelers.

"This is the first time such a unique blue crystal has been found in Russia. This is a milestone for Alrosa and the whole diamond industry. A find like this might never be repeated, and our responsibility is all the greater to preserve its natural beauty and transform this exceptional diamond into a cut and polished stone to rank among the world's rarest. And it is especially important that this work is being carried out by our Russian masters," Alrosa CEO Pavel Marinychev was quoted as saying.

The find confirms the presence of extremely rare Type IIb diamonds containing boron at deposits in the Nakyn kimberlite field, opening up new possibilities to study the geological processes of diamond formation in the Earth's interior, and is evidence of the presence of extremely rare boron-bearing varieties in the Nakyn ore field in Yakutia.