Alrosa plans to bid for Nizhne-Lenskoye, a competitor in the Sakha republic that mines alluvial gems.
Alrosa applied to the anti-trust regulator for permission to acquire Nizhne-Lenskoye from the regional government, the watchdog said Thursday on its website. Andrei Polyakov, a spokesman for Mirny, Siberia-based Alrosa, confirmed the application.
Alluvial diamonds are unearthed by natural erosion and deposited in river or sea beds. Nizhne-Lenskoye, which has operations near one of Alrosa's production sites, sold 4 billion rubles ($126 million) of rough diamonds last year, according to its website.
(Bloomberg)