The meeting of ALROSA’s  Board of Directors was held in the city of Mirny on 19th June. Opening the meeting Vladimir Kalitin, president of ALROSA, handed over the testimonial letter of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation to Olga A. Lyashenko, chief accountant.

On the agenda there were several items including measures to complete the construction and commission No. 16 Processing Plant in Nyurba, review of the company’s 2003 production plan, preparations for ALROSA’s annual Shareholders’ meeting.

Speaking on the construction of the production facilities at Nyurba, Mr. Kalitin pointed out that design, construction and installation works have been accomplished in the shortest possible time. Previously the plan was to complete the work in five years, however, actually this term has been reduced to two.

The Nyurba project provides for 73 facilities to be built all together. Metso Minerals of Sweden and Skanska of Finland were involved in its designing and construction. The new plant will be one of the most advanced of this kind in Russia. All the operations in the processing cycle will be fully automated due to innovative solutions.

By 21st July with all construction and installation completed, the Nyurba integrated mining and processing complex is expected to be ready for inauguration in the early weeks of August 2003.
The review of ALROSA’s 2003 production plan was imminent mainly due to the stronger rouble against the US dollar. The company will seek to balance its budget through reduced spending on logistics, and extra earnings in the first half of the year. ‘On no account will we let the company's economic situation deteriorate’, said Mr.Kalitin.

Some other issues were also discussed by the Board.