As long as the diamond market stays stable, Alrosa aims to issue a dividend to shareholders in the first half of 2023.
It represents a turnaround for the Russian state-controlled miner, which last paid a dividend in 2021.
“We agreed with the country’s government: if we do not see a deterioration in the economic situation on the diamond market in the first half of the year, then we will return to the issue of paying dividends,” Aisen Nikolaev, head of Yakutia, the republic where Alrosa is based, told Interfax.
Following the imposition of sanctions by the United States last year, Alrosa said that it would not pay a dividend in order to “”maintain the viability of its operations.”
Alrosa paid out slightly over $1 billion (RUB64.7 billion) to shareholders in the first half of 2021, accounting for more than 70% of the company’s net profit for the year.
Alrosa plans to restart the Mir mine later this year and claims it may diversify into mining other minerals.