Alrosa auctioned 2,040 carats for $8.8 million

                                             Held a successful online auction                                                                                         For special size rough diamonds 

Jewellery Market Bureau: Alrosa has successfully sold about 95 percent of lots at its digital auction in April. Digital twin technology allows clients to analyze goods remotely and trace polished diamonds up to the mine. 

The digital auction took place from 1 to 22 of April without physical viewings, 238 clients registered. Alrosa sold 142 lots weighing about 2,040 carats for $8.8 million. There were 27 winners from Belgium, Israel, India, UAE, Russia and USA.

“Digital auctions for large, special size diamonds proved their attractiveness for our clients last year. Apart from obvious benefits of choosing goods remotely while travel restrictions are still in place, they allow our clients to purchase rough for polished diamonds with guaranteed provenance. 

On client’s demand Alrosa may provide a tracing for diamonds polished from rough that were bought at auctions using digital twins technology,” – Evgeny Agureev, Deputy CEO of Alrosa, commented. 

Alrosa started piloting digital auctions in 2019 with regular goods, the first digital auction for special size rough diamonds took place in March 2020. 

Digital twin technology allows buyers to analyze key parameters of every diamond. 3D-scan provides comprehensive data on the shape, internal inclusions, color and fluorescence of each diamond in a standard Sarine Advisor’s planning format. Buyers’ experts may immediately evaluate potential polished diamond output. 

Buying goods at digital auction, client may build tracing chains, using cutting plans and polished diamonds’ parameters. This data allows unambiguously linking polished gems to initial rough. Alrosa, in turn, verifies this information and adds it to the respective diamond’s passport stored at the company’s protected platform.