Yakutia, De Beers in diamond deal

The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), a member nation of the Russian federation, has secured the right to retain 10% of its rough diamond production for independent sale, De Beers Centenary reports.

Yakutia will market the rough gem diamonds through the Central Selling Organization (CSO), the international diamond marketing agency. De Beers and Russian diamond authorities signed a 5-year sales contract in 1990 to allow for the marketing of Russia’s rough gem diamond production through the CSO; the Yakutia agreement will run concurrently with this contract, De Beers says.

De Beers says Yakutia is responsible for 99.8% of the Russian federation’s total diamond production. Formerly, the republic sold its rough diamonds to the central Soviet diamond authorities (now known as Rossalmazzoloto), which dealt with the CSO.

The deal with De Beers will allow Yakutia to benefit directly from foreign exchange production; the remaining 90% of Yakutia production will continue to be sold by Rossalmazzoloto to the CSO.