The Mir kimberlite pipe (Yakutia) is the largest diamond quarry in the world. The largest diamond deposits on earth
Diamonds were formed over 300 million years ago. Kimberlite magma formed at a depth of 20-25 km. Magma gradually rose along the faults in the earth's crust, and when the upper layers could no longer contain the pressure of the rocks, an explosion occurred. The first such pipe was found in South Africa in the city of Kimberley - from there the name came from. In the mid-1950s, the richest primary diamond deposits were discovered in Yakutia, where about 1,500 kimberlite pipes have been discovered to date. The development of Yakutia deposits is carried out by the Russian company ALROSA, which produces 99% of diamonds in the Russian Federation and more than a quarter in the world.
The city of Mirny is the diamond "capital" of Russia, located in Yakutia (Sakha), 1200 km. from Yakutsk.
The Mir diamond-bearing pipe discovered by geologists in the summer of 1955 gave the name to the workers' settlement that grew up in the taiga and became a city 3.5 years later.
The population of the city is about 35 thousand people. About 80% of this population works at enterprises associated with the ALROSA group of companies.
Lenin Square is the center of the city.
Mirny airport
Mirny is provided with food and consumer goods in the following ways: by air, by shipping supplies (for the period while navigation is open on the Lena) and by the "winter road".
Il-76TD cargo plane of ALROSA airline
The headquarters of Russia's largest diamond mining company ALROSA is located in Mirny.
The history of the company began with the Yakutalmaz trust, which was formed to develop primary diamond deposits in Yakutia in the early 1950s.
The main deposit of Yakutalmaz was the Mir kimberlite pipe, discovered on June 13, 1955.
Then the geologists sent an encrypted telegram to Moscow “They lit the pipe of peace. The tobacco is great."
The quarry is located in close proximity to Mirny.
Between 1957 and 2001, diamonds worth $17 billion were mined from the deposit, and about 350 million m3 of rock was removed.
Over the years, the quarry has expanded so much that dump trucks had to drive 8 km along a spiral road. from the bottom to the surface.
The quarry has a depth of 525 m and a diameter of 1.2 km; it is one of the largest in the world: the Ostankino TV tower could have entered it in height.
The quarry was mothballed in June 2001, and since 2009, diamond ore has been mined underground at the Mir mine.
An aquifer passes in the area where the Mir pipe is located. The water is now entering the pit and thus posing a threat to the mine under the pit. Water must be continuously pumped out and sent to the faults found by geologists in the earth's crust.
The volume of diamond production at the mine in 2013 amounted to more than 2 million carats.
Resources (including reserves) - more than 40 million tons of ore.
About 760 people work at the mine.
The company operates seven days a week. The mine works in three shifts, the shift lasts for 7 hours.
Mining surveyors that determine the direction of penetration through the ore body.
9 tunneling machines (Sandvik MR 620 and MR360) are used for sinking in the mine
The harvester is a machine with an executive body in the form of an arrow with a milling crown, which is equipped with cutting tools - teeth.
This Sandvik MR360 combine has 72 hardened metal teeth.
Since the teeth are subject to wear, they are inspected every shift and replaced with new ones if necessary.
To deliver ore from the combine to the ore pass, 8 load-and-dump machines (LHD) operate.
The main converter belt 1200 meters long from the kimberlite pipe to the ore pass skip.
The average diamond content exceeds 3 carats per ton.
From this place to the bottom of the quarry is about 20 meters.
To prevent flooding of the underground mine, a pillar 20 meters thick was left between the bottom of the quarry and the workings of the mine.
A waterproof layer is also laid at the bottom of the quarry, which prevents the penetration of water into the mine.
The mine also has a water collection system: first, groundwater is collected in special settling tanks, then it is fed to a mark of -310 meters, from where it is pumped to the surface.
In total, 10 pumps with a capacity of 180 to 400 cubic meters per hour operate at the mine.
Installation of the main tape
And this is underground work on another tube - "International" ("Inter").
It is located 16 km from Mirny. Open pit diamond mining began here in 1971, and when by 1980 the quarry reached 284 m, it was mothballed. It was with Inter that underground diamond mining began in Yakutia.
"International" is the company's richest kimberlite pipe in terms of diamond content in ore - more than 8 carats per ton.
In addition, Inter's diamonds are of high quality and valued on the world market.
The depth of the mine is 1065 meters. The pipe has been explored up to 1220 meters.
The length of all workings here is more than 40 km.
The harvester beats the ore with a working body (cone), with cutters installed on it.
Next comes the loading into loading-dump trucks, which transport the ore to the ore passes (mining workings designed to transport ore from the working area to the transport horizon located below), then the trolleys transport it to the capital ore pass, through which it is fed into the skip shaft and issued to surface.
1,500 tons of ore are mined per day at Inter. The volume of diamond mining in 2013 amounted to more than 4.3 million carats.
On average, one ton of rock contains 8.53 carats of diamonds.
So, in terms of diamond content, per ton of ore mined by Inter, there are 2 tons of ore from Mir, 4 tons from Aikhal, or 8 tons from Udachninsky.
Work at the mine is carried out day and night, seven days a week. There are only two holidays - New Year and Miner's Day.
Kimberlite pipe "Nyurbinskaya"
The Nyurba mining and processing plant was established in March 2000 to develop the deposits of the Nakyn ore field in the Nyurba ulus of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) - the Nyurbinskaya and Botuobinskaya kimberlite pipes, as well as adjacent placers. Mining is carried out by open and alluvial methods.
For the first time in the history of Yakutalmaz and Alrosa, the Nyurbinsky GOK uses a rotational method - with the involvement of workers living in Mirny (320 km.), Nyurba (206 km.) and in the village of Verkhnevilyuysk (235 km.)
As of July 1, 2013, the depth of the Nyurbinsky quarry is 255 meters.
The open pit will be mined up to 450 meters (up to -200 meters above sea level). There is potential for operation up to -320 meters.
For transportation of ore and overburden, dump trucks of large and extra large carrying capacity are used - from 40 to 136 tons.
The quarry operates CAT-777D dump trucks from Caterpillar with a payload capacity of 88 tons.
Nyurbinsky GOK has the highest growth rate of natural diamond production in ALROSA.
The volume of diamond mining in 2013 amounted to 6.5 million carats.
The average grade of diamonds in the ore is 4.25 carats per ton.
In the back of such a dump truck, there are about 300-400 carats.
From a quarry or from a mine, ore is sent by dump trucks to a factory, where the minerals themselves are extracted from it.
The enrichment of diamonds at the Mirny Mining and Processing Plant is carried out at Factory No. 3, which in the 1970s was the flagship of the country's diamond mining industry.
The capacity of the enrichment complex is 1415 thousand ore per year.
Coarse crusher body and jaw crusher.
Grinding takes place in it by rubbing the movable "cheek" against the fixed one. During the day, 6 thousand tons of raw materials pass through the crusher.
Medium crushing body
Spiral classifiers
Designed for wet separation of solid material into sand (sediment, particle size up to 50 mm), and drain containing fine suspended particles.
Wet Autogenous Mill
Mill diameter - 7 meters
Roaring
The stones are sifted through a sieve, where they are divided into groups according to size.
Finely processed rock is sent to spiral classifiers (screw separators), where all raw materials are separated depending on their density.
The heavy fraction comes from the outer side, and the light fraction comes from the inner side.
Air flotation machine
Fine material, together with the addition of aqueous reagents, enters the pneumoflotation machine, where crystals of small classes stick to foam bubbles and are sent for finishing. On a pneumoflotation machine, the smallest diamonds are extracted - from 2 mm or less.
This is a film machine, where a layer is created with the help of reagents, to which crystals of small diamonds adhere.
X-ray luminescent separator
This separator uses the property of diamonds to glow in x-rays. The material, moving along the tray, is irradiated with x-rays. Once in the irradiation zone, the diamond begins to glow. After the flash, a special device captures the glow and sends a signal to the cutting device.
Central control panel of the processing plant.
The factory also has a finishing shop where diamonds are cleaned, sifted, hand-picked, sorted and packaged.
Diamond sorting center
All diamonds mined at the company's fields in Yakutia are sent to the Sorting Center in Mirny. Here, diamonds are divided into size classes, raw materials from different deposits are initially evaluated and monitored to plan the work of mining and processing plants.
In nature, there are no perfect crystals or two identical diamonds, so their classification involves sorting.
16 sizes x 10 shapes x 5 qualities x 10 colors = 8000 items.
Vibrating sieve screen. Its task is to divide small diamonds into size classes. For this, 4-8 sieves are used.
About 1500 stones are placed into the device at a time.
Those that are larger are engaged in weighing machines. The largest diamonds are sorted by people.
The shape, quality and color of the crystals are determined by appraisers using magnifiers and microscopes.
Dozens of diamonds pass through a specialist per hour, and if they are small, then the bill goes to hundreds.
Each stone is looked at three times.
Manual weighing of a diamond
The weight of a diamond is determined in carats. The name "carat" comes from the name of the carob seed carat.
In ancient times, the carat seed served as a unit of measurement for the mass and volume of precious stones.
1 carat - 0.2 g (200 mg)
Stones weighing more than 50 carats are found several times a month.
The world's largest diamond "Cullinan" weighs 621 grams and costs about 200 billion rubles.
The largest diamond among the Yakuts is the "XXII Congress of the CPSU", it weighs 342 carats (more than 68 grams).
In 2013, the enterprises of the ALROSA group mined over 37 million carats of diamonds.
Of these, 40% go to industrial purposes and 60% to jewelry.
After selection, the stones go to the cutting plant. There, diamonds become diamonds.
Losses during cutting range from 30 to 70% of the weight of the diamond.
As of 2013, the reserves of the ALROSA group amounted to 608 million carats, and the probable reserves are about one third of the world's reserves.
Thus, the company is provided with a mineral resource base for 30 years ahead.
Many thanks to ALROSA for organizing the photo shoot!
For all questions regarding the use of photographs, write to e-mail.
In Yakutia, near the city of Mirny, there is the largest diamond quarry in the world in terms of total volume - the Mir kimberlite pipe (the city of Mirny appeared after the discovery of the pipe and was named after it).
The quarry has a depth of 525 meters and a diameter of 1.2 kilometers.
What is kimberlite?
The formation of a kimberlite pipe occurs during a volcanic eruption, when gases from the bowels of the earth break out through the earth's crust. The shape of such a tube resembles a funnel or glass. A volcanic explosion brings kimberlite, a rock that sometimes contains diamonds, from the bowels of the Earth. The breed is named after the city of Kimberley in South Africa, where an 85-carat (16.7 gram) diamond was found in 1871, sparking the Diamond Rush.
On June 13, 1955, geologists who were looking for a kimberlite pipe in Yakutia saw a tall larch whose roots were exposed by a landslide. The fox dug a deep hole under him. By the characteristic bluish color of the land scattered by the fox, geologists realized that it was kimberlite. A coded radiogram was immediately sent to Moscow: “We lit the pipe of peace, the tobacco is excellent”. Soon after 2800 km. off-road to the place of discovery of the kimberlite pipe, motorcades pulled. The working settlement of Mirny grew up around the diamond deposit, now it is a city with a population of about 36 thousand people.
The development of the deposit took place in extremely difficult climatic conditions. To break through the permafrost, it had to be blown up with dynamite.
In the 1960s, 2 kg were already produced here. diamonds per year, of which 20% were of gem quality and, after cutting and turning into diamonds, could go to a jewelry store. The remaining 80% of diamonds were used for industrial purposes.
The South African company De Beers, which was forced to buy up Soviet diamonds in order to control prices on the world market, was concerned about the rapid development of Mir. The management of De Beers agreed on the arrival of their delegation in Mirny. The Soviet leadership agreed to this on the condition that Soviet specialists visit diamond quarries in South Africa.
The De Beers delegation arrived in Moscow in 1976 to fly to Mirny, but the South African guests were deliberately delayed by endless meetings and banquets in Moscow, so when the delegation finally reached Mirny, they had only 20 minutes to inspect the quarry.
However, South African specialists were still amazed by what they saw, for example, by the fact that the Russians did not use water when processing ore. Although this is understandable: after all, 7 months a year in Mirny there is a minus temperature and therefore the use of water is simply impossible.
Between 1957 and 2001, the Mir quarry produced $17 billion worth of diamonds. Over the years, the quarry has expanded so much that trucks had to travel 8 km along a spiral road. from the bottom to the surface.
In 2001, the Russian company ALROSA, which owns the Mir quarry, stopped open-cast ore mining, as this method has become dangerous and inefficient. Scientists have found that diamonds occur at a depth of more than 1 km, and at such a depth not a quarry is suitable for mining, but an underground mine, which, according to the plan, will reach its design capacity of one million tons of ore per year in 2012. In total, the development of the deposit is planned for another 34 years.
By the way, on the official website of Alrosa, there is a very effective video showing how diamonds are mined. Here it is:
Curious fact: Helicopters are strictly forbidden to fly over the quarry, because a huge funnel sucks aircraft into itself. The high walls of the quarry are fraught with danger not only for helicopters: there is a threat of landslides, and one day the quarry may swallow the adjacent, including built-up, territories.
Found an error? Select it and left click Ctrl+Enter.
Everyone decided that this find had no industrial significance. They returned to exploration much later, in the middle of the 20th century. Given this fact, it is hard to imagine that all three of the largest diamond deposits in the world are currently located in Russia. Who else is lucky? We understand further, in our TOP of the largest diamond deposits in the world.
1
The jubilee quarry in Yakutia is the leader in terms of the total supply of precious stones - 153 million carats. Operation here began in 1986, and by now the depth of development has reached 320 meters. In forecasts - further deepening up to 720 meters.
2
The Udachny diamond quarry is also located in Yakutia. It is just nothing inferior to the Jubilee - 152 million carats. The deposit was found in 1955, so the open work was completed in 2015, however, underground mining is expected to continue for several decades. At the time of closing, the depth of the quarry was 640 meters - a world record!
3
At the moment, Mir is already closed: in 2001, open work was completed, and since 2009, diamonds have been mined here underground. The mine still presents surprises - in 2012, the “President” diamond weighing 79.9 carats was found here, which, however, is 4.3 times smaller than the “XXVI Congress of the CPSU” diamond found in 1980. The total reserves of the World are estimated at 141 million carats.
4
Argyle is one of the rarest and "bad" diamond deposits in the world at the same time. How can it be? Yes, simple. Most of the diamonds that are mined here are of technical quality. But sometimes... Oh, sometimes the rarest pink diamonds are found in Argyle. Each of these finds is a reason for a separate auction, because 9 out of 10 pink diamonds in the world come from Argyle. The total reserves of the deposit are estimated at 140 million carats.
Up to 130 million carats is the total value of Katoka in Angola. And since the field is quite young (works here began in 1993), most of these reserves are promising, that is, they still have to be raised. It is believed that over the next 30 years the mine will deepen to 600 meters (now - 200) and then the development will stop.
6
About 102 million carats come from Venice, one of De Beers' largest mines. She alone brings the company 10% of the annual diamond production. Reserves are located in 12 kimberlite pipes, which will be developed for another 20 years.
7
The development of this deposit is carried out by a subsidiary of NK Lukoil - Arkhangelskgeoldobycha, but in the near future the quarry will change its owner. It will be Otkritie Holding, which will pay 1.45 billion US dollars for 100% of the company's shares. It should be noted that the deposit itself is estimated at 98 million carats, and the annual production of diamonds in the near future is 1 million carats.
8
About 88.3 million carats fall on Jwaneng, but it is this mine that is considered the “richest” in the world, taking into account the amount of diamonds that are mined here. For example, in 2011, 10.641 million carats were mined here, and after all, development is already underway at a depth of 350 meters!
9
Orapa is one of the oldest diamond quarries in the world; mining began here in 1971. Its reserves are estimated at 85.7 million carats. Even now, this quarry remains one of the most productive in the world, but the record volumes of production of precious stones are behind us: in 2006, 17.3 million carats were produced here, then production began to fall.
10
The Botoubinskaya diamond pipe is located in Yakutia. Industrial development began in 2012, and is now only gaining momentum. For the first time, Botoubinsky diamonds entered the market in 2015. It is expected that the total reserves of the pipe will amount to 70.9 million carats, the life of the deposit is estimated at 40 years from the start of development.
Among the amazing natural phenomena, one can certainly include holes periodically opening up in different places on the globe.
1. Kimberlite pipe "Mir" (Mir diamond pipe), Yakutia.
The Mir kimberlite pipe is a quarry located in the city of Mirny, Yakutia. The quarry has a depth of 525 m and a diameter of 1.2 km and is one of the largest quarries in the world. Mining of diamondiferous kimberlite ore was stopped in June 2001. Currently, an underground mine of the same name is being built on board the quarry to develop the remaining under-quarry reserves, the extraction of which by open pit is unprofitable.
The world's largest diamond quarry is amazing.
2.Kimberlite pipe "Big hole", South Africa.
Big Hole - a huge inactive diamond mine in the city of Kimberley (South Africa). It is believed that this is the largest quarry developed by people without the use of technology. It is currently the main attraction of the city of Kimberley.
Between 1866 and 1914, about 50,000 miners dug the shaft with picks and shovels, producing 2,722 tons of diamonds (14.5 million carats) in the process. During the development of the quarry, 22.5 million tons of soil were extracted. It was here that such famous diamonds as "De Beers" (428.5 carats), bluish-white "Porter Rhodes" (150 carats), orange-yellow " Tiffany" (128.5 carats). At present, this diamond deposit has been exhausted. The area of the "Big Hole" is 17 hectares. Its diameter is 1.6 km. The hole was dug to a depth of 240 meters, but then was filled with waste rock to a depth of 215 meters, currently the bottom of the hole is filled with water, its depth is 40 meters.
At the site of the mine earlier (about 70 - 130 million years ago) there was a volcano mouth. Almost a hundred years ago - in 1914, the development in the "Big Hole" was stopped, but the gaping mouth of the pipe remains to this day and now serves only as a bait for tourists, acting as a museum. And…begins to create problems. In particular, there was a serious danger of collapse not only of its edges, but also of the roads laid in its immediate vicinity. The South African road authorities have long banned the passage of heavy goods vehicles in these places, and now they strongly recommend that all other drivers avoid driving along Bultfontein Road in the Big Hole area. The authorities are going to completely block the dangerous section of the road. And the largest diamond company in the world, De Beers, which has owned this mine since 1888, did not find anything better than to get rid of it by putting it up for sale.
3. Kennecott Bingham Canyon Mine, Utah.
The largest active quarry in the world - the development of copper began in 1863 and is still going on. About a kilometer deep and three and a half kilometers wide.
It is the world's largest anthropogenic formation (dug out by man). It is an open pit mine.
As of 2008, it measures 0.75 miles (1.2 km) deep, 2.5 miles (4 km) wide and covers an area of 1,900 acres (7.7 sq km).
The ore was first discovered in 1850, and quarrying began in 1863, which continues to this day.
Currently, the quarry employs 1,400 people who extract 450,000 tons (408 thousand tons) of rock daily. The ore is loaded onto 64 large dump trucks capable of hauling 231 tons of ore, these trucks cost about US$3 million each.
4. Quarry "Dyavik" (Diavik), Canada. Diamonds are mined.
The Canadian quarry "Diavik" is perhaps one of the youngest (by development) diamond kimberlite pipes. It was first explored only in 1992, the infrastructure was created by 2001, and diamond mining began in January 2003. Presumably, the mine will last from 16 to 22 years.
The place of its exit to the surface of the earth is unique in itself. Firstly, this is not one, but three pipes at once, formed on the island of Las de Gras, about 220 km south of the Arctic Circle, off the coast of Canada. Since the hole is huge, and the island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is small, only 20 km²
and in a short time the Diavik diamond mine became one of the most important components of the Canadian economy. Up to 8 million carats (1600 kg) of diamonds are mined from this deposit annually. An airfield has been built on one of its neighboring islands, capable of receiving even huge Boeings. In June 2007, a consortium of seven mining companies announced their intention to sponsor environmental studies and begin construction on Canada's North Shore of a major port to receive cargo ships up to 25,000 tons, as well as a 211 km access road that will connect the port to the consortium's plants. . And this means that the hole in the ocean will grow and deepen.
5. Great Blue Hole, Belize.
The world-famous Great Blue Hole (“Great Blue Hole”) is the main attraction of the picturesque, ecologically perfectly clean Belize (formerly British Honduras) - a state in Central America, on the Yucatan Peninsula. No, this time it's not a kimberlite pipe. Not diamonds are “mined” from it, but tourists - diving enthusiasts from all over the world, thanks to which it feeds the country no worse than a diamond pipe. Probably, it would be better to call it not the “Blue Hole”, but the “Blue Dream”, since this can only be seen in dreams or in a dream. This is a true masterpiece, a miracle of nature - a perfectly round, twilight blue spot in the middle of the Caribbean Sea, surrounded by the lace front of the Lighthouse Reef atol.
View from space!
Width 400 meters, depth 145 - 160 meters.
As if floating above the abyss ...
6. Drainage hole in the reservoir of the Monticello dam.
A large man-made hole is located in Northern California, USA. But it's not just a hole. The drain hole in the reservoir of the Monticello Dam is the largest spillway in the world! It was built about 55 years ago. This funnel-shaped exit is simply indispensable here. It allows you to quickly dump excess water from the tank when its level exceeds the allowable rate. A kind of safety valve.
Visually, the funnel looks like a giant concrete pipe. It is capable of passing through itself in a second as much as 1370 cubic meters. m of water! The depth of such a hole is about 21 m. From top to bottom, it has the shape of a cone, the diameter of which at the top reaches almost 22 m, and narrows down to 9 m and exits from the other side of the dam, removing excess water when the reservoir overflows. The distance from the pipe to the exit point, which is located slightly to the south, is approximately 700 feet (about 200 m).
7. Karst failure in Guatemala.
A giant funnel 150 meters deep and 20 meters in diameter. Caused by groundwater and rain. During the formation of the failure, several people died and about a dozen houses were destroyed. According to local residents, from about the beginning of February, ground movements were felt in the area of \u200b\u200bthe future tragedy, and a muffled rumble was heard from under the ground.
Near the city of Mirny, in the Yakut region of permafrost, on the left bank of the middle course of the Irel River, there is the largest diamond quarry in the world, which is called the Mir kimberlite pipe.
Today, a diamond quarry in Yakutia has the following impressive parameters:
- Its depth is 525 meters.
- The volume of ore extracted from the quarry is 165 million cubic meters.
- The bottom diameter is 160-310 meters.
- The diameter along the outer ring is 1.2 kilometers.
- The depth that has been explored is up to 1200 meters.
At first glance, one of the largest quarries in the world, where diamonds are mined, impresses with its scope and amazes the imagination. The formation of a kimberlite pipe is a consequence of a volcanic eruption, when gases under enormous temperature and high pressure through the earth's crust break out of the bowels of the earth. A volcanic explosion brings to the surface of the Earth a rock containing diamonds - kimberlite.
The tube has the shape of a glass and looks like a funnel of enormous proportions. The breed bears the same name with the city of Kimberley, located in South Africa, where in 1871 a diamond was found, the weight of which was 85 carats. Found 16, 7 gram "pebble" gave rise to Diamond Rush.
History of the Mir kimberlite pipe
Back in the early 19th century, rumors began to emerge about the presence of precious stones in the territory of Yakutia and the western lands bordering it. Teacher Petr Starovatov, after the civil war, got into a conversation with an old man in Kempendyai, who told him about his discovery a couple of years ago in one of the local rivers - it was a sparkling pebble the size of a pinhead. He sold the find to a merchant for two bottles of vodka, a sack of cereals and five bags of tea. After a while, another person said that he also found precious stones on the banks of the Kempendyak and Chona rivers. But it was only in 1947-1948 that a targeted search for diamonds began for the first time on the territory of the Siberian Platform. In the autumn of 1948, a group of geologists led by G. Fanshtein launched prospecting work on the Vilyui and Chona rivers, and on August 7, 1949, the first diamond was found on the Sokolina sand spit, and subsequently a diamond placer was discovered here. The prospecting work of 1950-1953 was also crowned with success - several diamond placers were discovered, and on August 21, 1954, the first kimberlite pipe in the Soviet Union, called Zarnitsa, was discovered.
Soon, on June 13, 1955, the geological party saw a tall larch with exposed roots, where the fox dug a deep hole. The bluish color of the earth suggested that it was kimberlite. This is how a team of geologists discovered a diamond pipe that turned out to be the largest and richest in the world. The following telegram was sent to the authorities: "They lit the pipe of peace, the tobacco is excellent." By means of this classified radiogram, Soviet geologists reported to the capital about the discovery of the Mir kimberlite diamond pipe. The phrase excellent tobacco meant that diamonds contained a large amount.
This discovery was extremely important for the USSR, since after the start of industrialization, the country experienced an acute shortage of industrial diamonds. It was believed that the use of diamond tools doubled the economic potential of the country, and soon the Mirny settlement arose, where motorcades moved along the impassability, overcoming 2800 km of the way. At the beginning of 1960, the USSR was already actively mining diamonds worth $1 billion a year, and the village of Mirny became the center of the Soviet diamond mining industry, and today 40,000 people live here.
The richest diamond mine in the world
The deposit was developed in extremely difficult climatic conditions, and in order to break deep into the permafrost, the earth had to be blown up with dynamite. Already in 1960, the annual production of diamonds was 2 kilograms, and 1/5 of them were of gem quality.
Diamonds, after appropriate cutting, turned into amazingly beautiful diamonds, which were used to create jewelry. Soviet citizens planning to get married could afford to buy exquisite diamond engagement rings, in which diamonds were mined in the Yakut Mir kimberlite pipe. The remaining 80% of mined diamonds have been used for industrial purposes, since according to the Mohs scale of reference minerals, this is the hardest mineral in the world with the highest thermal conductivity, dispersion and refraction.
The active development of the Mir kimberlite pipe was of most concern to the South African company De Beers, which was forced to buy Soviet-made diamonds in order to control prices on the world market. The first persons of the company, after negotiations with the Soviet leadership, agreed on the arrival of a delegation from their side in the village of Mirny. A positive answer was given, but with one condition - a delegation from the USSR, in turn, would visit diamond quarries in South Africa.
The delegation of the South African company in 1776 arrived in Moscow with the aim of further flight to the village of Mirny, but it was deliberately delayed, arranging endless meetings and banquet feasts. When the delegation nevertheless arrived in Yakutia to inspect the Mir kimberlite pipe, they had only 20 minutes to inspect it. Despite this, the De Beers specialists were strongly impressed by the scope of what they saw, and were surprised that the Soviet specialists did not use water when processing the ore. Given that this region has been experiencing sub-zero temperatures for 7 months, it is simply impossible to do this.
Today, the city of Mirny has turned from a small tent settlement into a modern industrial city with asphalt roads, developed infrastructure and nine-story high-rise buildings. There is an airport, two diamond processing factories, a city park, bars, restaurants, an art gallery, swimming pools, a stadium, 3 libraries, an art school, a modern Palace of Culture and a 4-story hotel. For a provincial town, there is a rather high intellectual potential here. The research institute "Yakutniproalmaz" has been working here for many years and the Polytechnic Institute is open to applicants.
For 44 years of operation of the Mir quarry (between 1957 and 2001), diamonds were mined here, the cost of which amounted to $ 17 billion. The scale of the quarry increased to such latitudes that trucks had to travel almost 8 km along a spiral road in order to rise from the bottom of the quarry to the surface.
Today, the diamond quarry is owned by the Russian company ALROSA, which in 2001 stopped mining ore in the Mir quarry using open-pit technology. The main reason is low efficiency and danger.
Research by scientists has shown that diamonds lie at a depth of more than 1,000 meters, and in order to establish effective mining, not a quarry is needed, but an underground mine. The design capacity of such a mine, according to the plan, will be about a million tons of ore annually. The total period planned for the development of the field is 34 years.
Interesting facts about the kimberlite pipe
- Helicopters are strictly prohibited from flying over the deep quarry. The reason is as follows - a huge funnel causes turbulence in the air masses, in which aircraft cannot maneuver safely.
- The walls of the quarry are incredibly high, and they are dangerous not only for helicopters. There is an increased risk of landslides here.
According to rumors, local residents are afraid that one day a huge quarry can absorb the territories adjacent to it, including those that are built up for human habitation, but these are just urban legends of the Mirny village.
Ecological city of the future on the site of a former diamond quarry
Today, an empty huge pit is of interest to scientists, and ideas are already emerging to create an eco-city in this funnel. The head of the architectural bureau of Moscow, Nikolai Lutomsky, shared his plans for an incredible solution. “The main part of the project is a huge concrete structure, which will play the role of a kind of plug, bursting open the quarry from the inside. A light-transparent dome will cover the pit from above, and it is planned to install solar panels on it.
Despite the harsh climate of Yakutia, there are a lot of clear days a year, and the batteries can generate about 200 MW of electricity. It will be enough "with a head" to meet the needs of the future city. In addition, you can use the heat of the Earth, and if in winter the air temperature is minus 60 degrees Celsius, then the temperature of the soil at a depth below 150 meters will be positive (below permafrost). This fact adds energy efficiency to the future project. The city is planned to be divided into three parts:
- Upper will be used for permanent residence. It will contain residential buildings, buildings and structures of socio-cultural and administrative significance;
- middle tier- a zone where a forest and a park area will be spread, designed to purify the air in the city;
- lower tier will be a so-called vertical farm - agricultural products will be grown here to meet the needs of the city.
The total planned area of the project is 3 million square meters. The city will be able to accommodate up to 10,000 tourists, farm workers and service personnel.
On August 21, 2009, a new significant date in the history of diamond mining, the Mirny underground mine was launched. This is the apogee of many years of work of thousands of people, a powerful production unit of AK ALROSA, which makes it possible to extract about 1 million tons of ore containing diamonds. In recent years, Russia has confidently held the palm in diamond mining, thanks to ALROSA. During the year, diamonds were exported in the amount of 1.7 billion dollars, and most of them are in European countries.