Russia-based mining company Alrosa has launched stripping operations at the Mayskaya pipe near the Botuobinsky and Nyurbinsky open pits and processing plant in the Yakutia region as it looks to increase diamond capacity.

The company expects to see the first diamonds from the kimberlite deposits in 2025 and yield one million carats a year from 300,000 tonnes of ore.

Alexey Kovalenko, head of the Mirny Nyurba division at Alrosa, said it would take "several years" to complete the deposit development but that the pipe's proximity to the processing plant would "simplify development and reduce costs."

"This is one of the projects that will help ALROSA to achieve its mid-term production outlook of 35-36 million carats by 2025-2026," Kovalenko explained.

The Mayskaya pipe was discovered in 2006 and is located 3 kilometers southwest of the Botuobinskaya pipe in the Nyurbinsky district of Yakutia, 300 kilometers from the town of Mirny.

Detailed geological exploration was completed in 2015 with resources estimated to be 12.7 million carats, Alrosa said.