(IDEX Online) - The world has just 20 years' worth of economically viable diamond reserves left at current rates of consumption, according to Alrosa, Russia's state-controlled miner.
Sergey Takhiev, the company's head of corporate finance and investor relations, says over half those reserves are in Russia. The remainder are mostly in Botswana, Angola and other African nations.
"The current estimate of economically viable diamond reserves at current prices is 1.8 billion carats," he told Sputnik, the state-owned news agency, according to a report published on 17 December.
"This would last approximately 20 years at a production rate of 90 million carats per year."
He noted, however, that if global diamond production keeps declining, current reserves could last 50 to 60 years, or even longer.