ARKHANGELSK, November 28. /TASS/. The construction of a diamond-growing facility in Arkhangelsk will begin in 2022, and will be completed in 2024, the Russian Arctic Scientific-Educational Center's press service told TASS. The plant will produce monocrystalline plates with unique sensory properties.

"The new enterprise's construction will begin this year, and is scheduled to be completed in 2024. In addition to the main industrial part, there will be a large space for auxiliary industries. It will be a high-tech enterprise to grow artificial diamonds and to use them to make monocrystalline plates with unique sensory properties," the press service said.

The project is an example of effective interaction between the Center and industrial counterparts, in this case, namely with AGD Diamonds, a diamond mining company. A site has been allocated and specialists have finalized the design of the new production complex of 2,000 square meters, the Center's scientific director Marat Yeseev told TASS. "The plant will produce 10,000 carats of synthetic diamonds a year," he said.

Under the project, the Northern Arctic Federal University (SAFU) has opened a laboratory to study monocrystalline diamond plates with various defects, including the so-called NV-centers. These are structures inside the diamond, and they can be used in various quantum technologies, such as quantum gyroscope, magnetometers, navigation devices, which will be very promising in the future. The production of single-crystal diamond plates with NV-centers requires control, the targeted number of NV-centers in a plate, the control over how many of them have appeared and how many more need to be created.

Specialists for new facilities

According to Igor Ryzhov, Head of AGD Diamonds' Long-Term Development Department, the Center may attract institutes from other regions, including for training specialists. "For the successful development in this direction, we have attracted leading institutes throughout the country - from Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In this cooperation, we are creating what's called a scientific and academic environment in which would develop young scientists, were new ideas will emerge, and so on," the press service quoted him as saying.

Young scientists and students can present to the Center their ideas regarding how to use properties of the diamond plates that will be produced, he added. "If someone has ideas on how to use the unique sensory properties of these diamond plates, we are happy to support them and to offer conditions so that the teams could implement their ideas, if they pass our evaluation system," he concluded.

In December, 2020, the Russian government supported the establishment of the Russian Arctic Scientific-Educational Center, which features specialists in the Arkhangelsk, Murmansk and Nenets Regions. The center’s objective is to implement new technology projects, make new materials, as well as to conduct studies and to bring the research to the international level. The center also trains specialists, who will focus on major technology tasks in the region in the interests of the Arctic industries and economy.

AGD Diamonds (formerly named as Arkhangelskgeoldobycha) is one of the oldest companies in Russia’s European North, involved in exploration, mining and processing of natural resources. It was founded in 1931. The company has been developing one of Europe’s two diamond deposits - the Grib deposit in the Arkhangelsk Region’s Mezen District.