ALROSA, the world's largest diamond mining company, has sold special size rough diamonds (over 10.8 carats) at an auction in New York which was held from September 17 till October 5.

The company sold more than 90 per cent lots with total weight of over 1.300 carats worth $7.9 million. The auction was attended by clients from the U.S., India, Israel, Belgium, the United Arab Emirates and others.

The key stones of the action were - a white diamond with yellow shade weighing almost 98-carats and a white diamond weighing 108-carats. Both stones were mined at the Yubileinaya pipe in Yakutiya. Recently Evgeny Agureev, the Member of the Executive committee, Director of the USO ALROSA, noted that such large and pure diamonds are extremely rare in nature.

"The auction was held during some major holidays; therefore some of our customers couldn't attend it. So it had an effect on the overall result. Meanwhile the sale of coloured stones was extremely successful - we sold all but one lot. And the efficiency was quite high", said Eugene Agureev.

He also said that despite the fact that the United States is a key consumer of polished diamonds, ALROSA's rough diamond auctions are very successful and attract more and more customers.