On June 12, 1955, Soviet geologists discovered the Mir kimberlite diamond pipe, which got its name from a telegram transmitted by scientists on June 13. It was encrypted and it said: "The pipe of the world was lit, the tobacco is excellent!"
Primary diamond deposits
Having spent billions of years deep underground, diamonds are brought to the earth's surface during volcanic explosions. As a result of this process, primary deposits of diamonds, kimberlite pipes, are formed. Such tubes, or diatremes (from the Greek word for hole, hole) are channels going vertically deep into the earth.
The first primary diamond deposit that mankind has discovered is a kimberlite pipe located in southern Africa in the province of Kimberley. It is worth noting that the Kimberley place gave the name to the pipes, and the rock containing precious diamonds began to be called kimberlite. The Kimberley pipe was found in 1871, and was developed only in 1914.
Over the entire period of operation of this deposit, more than 14.5 million carats of diamonds were mined. Now the world knows thousands of kimberlite pipes of different sizes. The three largest primary diamond deposits include the Mwadui pipe located in Tanzania, the Udachnaya kimberlite pipe located in Yakutia, and the Mir pipe also located in Yakutia.
Yakutia is one of the famous diamond-bearing regions. It is here, not far from the city of Mirny, that the largest diamond deposit in terms of total volume is located. In terms of diamond reserves, Russia ranks first in the world, accounting for almost 60% of the world's reserves. Most of the Russian reserves - about 80% - are concentrated in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), less than 20% - in the Arkhangelsk region and a very small amount - in the Perm Territory.
Amakin expedition
On March 17, 1949, the Amakinsky expedition began, led by the famous geologist G. Feinshtein, the tasks of this expedition included surveying the territory of Yakutia, namely the Vilka riverbed. The tasks of the Amakinskaya expedition included finding diamond deposits. On August 7, 1949, near the village of Krestyakh, geologists discovered the first diamond, and it was after this event that large-scale prospecting began. A year later, the expedition received the status of an all-Union one, and search operations moved to the territory of Irkutsk. The search for diamonds was also carried out in the region of Western Yakutia, the settlement of Nyurba was also surveyed. Already in 1955, the Amakinskaya expedition discovered the largest Russian diamond deposits, such as Mir, Sytykanskaya, and Udachnaya.
During the discovery of the Mir field, geologists Khabardin, Avdeenko and Elagina sent a radiogram that became famous throughout the country, which was originally encrypted: “We lit the peace pipe, the tobacco is excellent. Avdeenko, Elagina, Khabardin. The telegram was sent on June 13, 1955. All members of the expedition were awarded the Lenin Prize, and Elena Elagina received the status of an honorary resident of the Mirny settlement and a diploma as a field discoverer.
Start of field development
The development of the Mir field took place in extremely difficult conditions. The permafrost that covered the kimberlite pipe was being torn apart by dynamite.
In the early years of the deposit, in the 1960s, about two kilograms of diamonds were mined here per year. True, only twenty percent of them could be used for making jewelry. Such diamonds were cut and delivered to jewelry stores. The rest of the diamonds were used in industry. On December 23, 1980, the largest diamond was discovered at the Mir deposit, which weighed more than 68 grams, which is about 342 carats. This diamond was named "XXVI Congress of the CPSU", since it was at this congress that the main directions of the country's social and economic development were approved. The pipe was active between 1957 and 2001, during which time a large amount of diamonds worth a total of seventeen billion dollars was mined at the Mir kimberlite deposit. Interestingly, over the years of mining, the quarry has greatly expanded, because of this, trucks transporting diamonds were forced to descend and rise from the pipe in a spiral. In 2001, the ALROSA company, which owned the deposit, decided to stop open pit diamond mining, as it had ceased to be effective. It also became known that diamonds still lie in a pipe, at a depth of about one kilometer, and an underground mine was created for their extraction, which began its work already in 2012. For all the years of development of the pipe, more than 350 million cubic meters of ore have been removed from it. Now the quarry has a depth of 525 meters and a diameter of 1200 meters.
Pipe "Mir" and the world market
De Beers, a South African company, was extremely concerned about the emergence of a new diamond giant on the world market. Already in 1975, the company's leaders agreed with the leadership of the USSR on the arrival of a South African delegation to get acquainted with the work of the Mir kimberlite pipe. Ambassadors from the diamond mining company arrived in Moscow in 1976 and from the capital they were supposed to go to the Mirny settlement. But the government of the USSR did not want to reveal all its secrets to the delegation, especially since De Beers was our main competitor in the diamond market. Therefore, the delegation spent about three days in Moscow, all sorts of amusements and entertainments were arranged for the ambassadors. City tours, better hotel rooms, banquet.
When the entertainment ended, the delegation still went to the Mir field, but they had no more than half an hour to fly around the tube, since the return plane flew off on the same day. But despite the fact that there was little time for a flyby, African experts were amazed at the scale of what they saw. They were especially struck by the fact that when processing ore, the workers did not use water, which they actively resorted to in their work at their company. True, they did not take into account the fact that the field is located in the north and for more than six months at the Mir field there is a sub-zero temperature at which the use of water is simply impossible. But the African ambassadors from De Beers decided that this was an innovation of the Soviet Union and later for several years tried to establish the same production at their fields.
"Peace" in our time
There are many dangers that the pipe is fraught with. For example, landslides are extremely dangerous, as a result of which, at one fine moment, a quarry may collapse, which will lead to the collapse of adjacent territories, including those built up with residential buildings. However, more recently, an idea has appeared to prevent the unpleasant consequences of the operation of the Mir tube and its further use. Scientists have developed a fantastic project to create an eco-city in the funnel. The top of the pit was supposed to be covered with a special transparent dome. In addition, it was planned to equip the roof with solar panels: despite the harsh climate, the weather in Yakutia is clear most of the time. The energy generated by the batteries, according to calculations, would be sufficient for normal living conditions for people under the dome. The architects planned to divide the entire space in the crater into three tiers, the first of which, the upper one, will serve as a place for people to stay. The second, middle one, was proposed to be made into a forest park zone, in which the air would be purified and oxygen would be produced. And finally, the lower tier was supposed to serve for growing food, it was called the "farm tier". The total area of such a "village" should be about three million square meters. The project envisaged that up to 10 thousand people could live in the city. So far, these plans have remained projects.
Kimberlite pipes, from which diamonds are mined, are the result of underground volcano eruptions that occurred millions of years ago. Under the influence of high temperatures and enormous pressure, carbon received a strong crystal lattice and turned into a precious stone. Subsequently, the discovery of this property made it possible to establish the production of artificial diamonds. But natural stones, of course, are much more valuable.
In the photo - a view of the main quarry of the Udachny mining and processing plant - "Udachny". Mining operations at the field of the same name began in 1971, and over the past 25 years, the plant has been the leading enterprise in the diamond mining industry in Russia and one of the largest open pits in the world. In 2010, the share of Udachninsky GOK accounted for 33.8% of diamond production in value terms and 12.5% of mining operations from the total volume for the Alrosa group.
The first large-scale industrial diamond mining began in southern Africa about a hundred years ago. In Russia, kimberlite pipes were discovered only in the middle of the last century - in Yakutia. This discovery laid the foundation for Alrosa, today the world leader in diamond mining. Thus, the company's forecast reserves are about a third of the world's, and the explored reserves are enough to maintain the current level of production for 25 years without reducing the quality of raw materials. If in numbers, then the diamond reserves in the deposits owned by Alrosa are (according to data published in May 2011) 1.23 billion carats according to the Russian classification (1.014 billion proven and 0.211 billion probable).
For the past five years, the company has annually allocated from 2.5 to 3.5 billion rubles for exploration work. In 2011, exploration costs amounted to about 4 billion rubles, and in 2012 it is planned to allocate over 5.36 billion rubles for these purposes.
Alrosa produces about 35 million carats of diamonds per year at its deposits, being the world's largest producer of this rough in physical terms: it accounts for about 97% of Russian production and 25% of the world. At the same time, the content of diamonds in the ore of kimberlite pipes is traditionally low - usually a few carats per ton. The Yakut deposits are advantageous in this regard, and are considered one of the richest in content.
In 2010, Alrosa's sales of rough and polished diamonds amounted to $3.48 billion, and in 2011, according to preliminary data, the company sold products worth $5 billion, a record high in its history. The company's revenue in the first half of 2011 under IFRS amounted to 66.15 billion rubles. (+3% on the previous year), and net profit increased five times to 26.27 billion rubles.
Kimberlite pipes have the shape of a cone, expanding upwards, so their development usually begins with open-pit mining. The design depth of the Udachny quarry, shown in these photographs, is 600 m. To get up from the bottom of the quarry to the surface, the dump truck overcomes a path about 10 km long along the serpentine.
And this is how mining is carried out in quarries. The drilling rig makes a well into which an explosive is laid (in the photo - the process of laying). By the way, although diamond is the hardest mineral, it is quite fragile. Therefore, sparing technologies are used in blasting operations to preserve the integrity of the crystals as much as possible. After the explosion, rock fragments are loaded into dump trucks and taken to the processing plant.
The main enterprises of the company are located in Western Yakutia, on the territory of four districts of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) - Mirninsky, Lensky, Anabarsky, Nyurbinsky - in one of the most severe regions of the planet, with a sharply continental climate, a large temperature difference, in the permafrost zone. In Udachny, winter lasts up to 8 months, the temperature in winter sometimes drops to -60 C. Therefore, most of the equipment is made to order - these are machines adapted to work at low temperatures. As a result, work at the fields is carried out all year round in all weather conditions. A large number of equipment is simultaneously involved in quarrying - wheel loaders, dump trucks, excavators. There are only about 300 heavy dump trucks in the Alrosa fleet, with a carrying capacity of 40 to 136 tons - mostly BelAZ trucks, there are also Cat and Komatsu.
After reaching a certain depth, the reserves within the quarry are exhausted, and open pit mining becomes unprofitable. On average, quarries are developed to a depth of about 600 m. However, kimberlite pipes lie underground to a depth of 1.5 km. A mine is being built for further development. Underground mining is more expensive than quarrying, but it is the only cost-effective way to get to deep-seated reserves. In the future, Alrosa is going to significantly increase the share of underground diamond mining. Now the company is completing the open-pit development of the Udachny quarry and is simultaneously building an underground mine. It is expected to be launched in 2014.
The cost of transition to underground diamond mining is estimated at $3-4 billion, but in the future this should lead to cost reductions. Largely due to the construction of underground mines, Alrosa's debt by the acute phase of the crisis in 2008 increased by 64% to 134.4 billion rubles. But the state did not leave the company in trouble: it was included in the list of backbone enterprises, non-core gas assets were bought by VTB for $620 million, and when the demand for diamonds fell, Gokhran began buying Alrosa products.
When you hear the word “diamond mines”, you involuntarily imagine a beautiful picture: a cave, within the walls of which precious stones shimmer with all the colors of the rainbow. In fact, a diamond mine is not the most romantic place on earth. The walls are by no means sparkling with diamond brilliance, and looking at the ore, it is generally difficult to assume that the future "girls' best friends" are hidden in it. The photo shows workers in one of the ventilation horizontal workings of the future underground mine, the depth is 380 meters.
The construction of mines takes place in unique mining and geological conditions. In addition to permafrost, it is complicated by aggressive underground waters, which, due to high mineralization, can not only erode the walls of mine workings, but also corrode (!) wheel tires of dump trucks. In addition, there are bitumen and oil shows at Alrosa's fields, which also complicate diamond mining.
In parallel, the construction of surface facilities of the future mine is underway - for example, ventilation and air heaters. The underground mine "Udachny" will become one of the largest in the world - its productivity is expected at the level of 4 million tons of ore per year. This is not the company's first underground mine: since 1999, Alrosa has been working at the International mine. In addition, in August 2009 the company commissioned the Mir underground mine. It is expected that when all mines reach full capacity, the share of underground mining in the total volume of Alrosa's operations will grow to 40%. In total, the company mines diamonds in Russia at 9 primary and 10 alluvial deposits located in Yakutia and the Arkhangelsk region. In addition, the company owns the Katoka diamond mining enterprise in Angola, together with the local state-owned company Endiama.
What will underground mining at Udachny look like in 2–3 years? For example, a photograph of the already operating Mir mine. Mining of diamond ore underground is carried out mainly by combine driving (pictured). Also, the company's specialists are studying the possibility of using traditional mining blasting - when the rock is destroyed by explosives placed in drilled wells. Further, the scheme is the same: loading machines take the ore and take it to the surface, from where it will go to the processing plant. Now we will go to it.
The initial stage of enrichment of diamond ore looks the same as for any other mineral. Initially, large pieces of rock up to several meters in size enter the factory. After coarse crushing in jaw or cone crushers, the ore is fed to wet self-grinding mills (pictured), where, using water, rock fragments up to 1.5 m in size are crushed to a size of 0.5 m or less.
A controlling stake in Alrosa (51%) is federally owned (from 2006 to 2008, 10% of this stake was owned by VTB), 32% of the shares belong to the government of Yakutia, and 8% control the uluses of this subject of the federation. In April 2011, the company was transformed from a CJSC into an OJSC in order to be able to raise funds on the market. Since the middle of last year, Alrosa shares have been traded on Russian stock exchanges, but the volume of transactions in them is small due to low liquidity (only shares of minority shareholders were listed on the stock exchange). In the fall of 2011, Suleiman Kerimov's Nafta-Moskva, which bought up about 1% of the company's shares on the market, became one of Alrosa's shareholders.
At the next stage, spiral classifiers separate the raw material depending on its density and size. The principle of operation is very simple. Water picks up small particles and carries them down the drain. Large particles (up to several centimeters in size) can no longer be carried away by water - they settle in the lower part of the tank, after which the spiral lifts them up.
Now we need to somehow isolate diamonds from small pieces of ore obtained after crushing. Pieces of medium-sized ore are sent to jigging machines and for heavy-medium enrichment: under the influence of water pulsation, diamond crystals are isolated and deposited as a heavy fraction. Fine "powder" passes through pneumoflotation, during which, interacting with reagents, small diamond crystals adhere to foam bubbles.
At the next stage, all raw materials will undergo the main procedure - X-ray luminescent separation (RLS).
It’s just that it’s impossible to show what happens inside the separator during its operation: the radar principle is based on constant x-ray radiation. To look inside during the operation of the separator, to put it mildly, is unsafe. If described in words, then the method is based on the unique property of diamond - it is the only mineral that luminesces in X-rays. Crushed ore is constantly moving along the conveyor belt inside the separator, irradiated with X-rays. As soon as a diamond enters the irradiation zone, the photocells record a luminescent flash and the air flow “knocks out” the sparkling fragment into a separate tank.
Of course, the air flow inside the separator cannot separate only one small crystal - along with it, a certain amount of waste rock is also eliminated. In fact, the whole process of ore beneficiation is only aimed at minimizing the amount of this "empty" material and then facilitating manual processing. Moreover, “manual” in the literal sense of the word: experts select crystals, clean them and carry out the so-called “final finishing”. No matter how popular the desire to automate all production processes in general is now, it is absolutely impossible to do without the human factor in diamond mining. The number of employees of the company (as of December 2010) is more than 31,000 people.
Whose hands were those?
One way or another, but it was under Fyodor Andreev that Alrosa began to prepare for an IPO, and the company was included in the privatization program for 2012–2013. It is currently awaiting a government decision on the parameters and timing of privatization. Representatives of Yakutia stated that the republic sees no obstacles to the privatization of part of the package, but insists that control should remain with the state. Recently, the shareholders agreed that only 14% of the shares (7% each from the Federal Property Management Agency and the Ministry of Property of Yakutia) will be sold on the market, for which it is planned to raise about $1 billion.
From the final finishing shop, all rough diamonds are sent to the Sorting Center in Mirny. Here, raw materials are divided into main groups and given an initial assessment, after which they can be sent for sale through the Unified Sales Organization of Alrosa.
By the way, about half of Alrosa's products are sold outside of Russia. Until recently, the company sold its diamonds to the world market using the services of the De Beers monopoly. However, in early 2009, they stopped cooperation and Alrosa began reorganizing its sales system, providing for sales under direct contracts and an equal approach to foreign and Russian buyers, worked out the client base and introduced the practice of "long" contracts.
In general, raw materials from each of the deposits have their own distinctive features. Experienced experts, when looking at a diamond, can determine from which mine it came. But this applies only to general signs. No two diamonds are the same. Therefore, there are no organized exchange trading in diamonds, for example, like gold or copper - this is not a standardized product, each stone has unique characteristics.
Such uniqueness significantly complicates both sorting and evaluation. When evaluating, experts take as a basis three characteristics: size, color and purity (no inclusions inside, transparency). The most expensive stones are "pure water", absolutely transparent and without a pronounced color. Each of the characteristics has different gradations. As a result, depending on the size, color and other parameters, about 8,000 possible positions of rough diamonds are obtained.
Feb 10, 2009
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 kimberlite pipe was discovered on June 13, 1955 by the geologists of the Amakin expedition Yu. I. Khabardin, E. N. Elagina and V. P. Avdeenko. The famous radiogram, transmitted by them to the leadership of the expedition about the discovery of kimberlite, was encoded:
We lit the pipe of the world zap tobacco excellent point Avdeenko zap Elagina zap Khabardin point
In 1957, open-pit diamond mining began, which continued until June 2001. Near the quarry, the village of Mirny was formed, which became the center of the Soviet diamond mining industry. The largest diamond found in Russia was mined at the Mir mine on December 23, 1980. It weighs 342.5 carats (more than 68 g) and is called "XXVI Congress of the CPSU". In recent years, quarry trucks have been “winding” along a spiral road 8 km from the bottom to the surface.
In the course of its work, the quarry was reconstructed 3 times, a unique grouting curtain was created to prevent the flow of aggressive brines from the Metegero-Ichersky aquifer complex, as well as a drainage system of 32,250 m3 of water per day (about 1 million m3 per month). Geological exploration has shown that the depth of diamonds exceeds a kilometer, so ALROSA, which is developing the deposit, is currently building an underground mine at the deposit. For the construction of an underground mine and future safe mining of the upper underground horizons, the bottom of the mothballed quarry was covered with a special protective layer of rock. This “pillow”, or “pillar”, is not amenable to bursting pressures, its thickness is 45 meters.
During the years of open (quarry) development, diamonds were mined from the deposit, according to unofficial data, for 17 billion US dollars, about 350 million cubic meters were exported. m. breed.
For opening the “Mir” pipe Yu.I. Khabardin was awarded the Lenin Prize, E. N. Elagina was awarded a certificate of honor and a diploma “Pioneer of the field”, and also became an honorary citizen of the city of Mirny.
In Soviet times, a sufficient number of cities were built on the territory of our country, many of which are real unique in their geographical location and engineering solutions used. Such is the city of Mirny (Yakutia). The diamond quarry, which is located within its boundaries, is one of the wonders of the modern world, as it impresses even worldly-wise specialists with its size.
"Pipe of Peace"
By the way, scientifically this quarry is a "kimberlite pipe" called "Mir". The city itself appeared after her discovery and the start of development, and therefore was named after her. The quarry has an unrealistic depth of 525 meters and a diameter of almost 1.3 km! Itself was formed in time immemorial, when lava flows and hot volcanic gases burst out of the depths of our planet at great speed. On the cut, it resembles a glass or a cone. Thanks to the enormous force of the explosion, kimberlite was ejected from the bowels of the Earth - this is the name of the rock containing natural diamonds.
The name of this substance comes from the name of the South African city of Kimberley. There, in 1871, almost 17 grams were discovered, as a result of which prospectors and adventurers from all over the world poured into that area in an unstoppable stream. How did our city of Mirny (Yakutia) come about? The quarry is the basis of its appearance.
How the deposit was discovered
In mid-June 1955, Soviet geologists in Yakutia were looking for traces of kimberlite and came across a fallen larch whose roots had been uprooted from the ground by a powerful hurricane. The fox took advantage of this natural "preparation" by digging a hole there. It served us well: by the color of the earth, the experts realized that there was an excellent kimberlite under the fox hole.
A coded radiogram was immediately sent to Moscow: “They lit the pipe of peace, excellent tobacco!” Just a few days later, huge columns of construction equipment were pulled into the wilderness. This is how the city of Mirny (Yakutia) arose. The quarry had to be developed in extremely difficult conditions. One has only to look at the pit covered with snow to understand the grandiose scope of the work carried out here!
Delegation from South Africa
To break through several meters of permafrost, tens of thousands of tons of powerful explosives had to be used. Since the 60s of the last century, the deposit began to consistently produce two kilograms of diamonds, and at least 1/5 of them were of excellent quality and could be sent to jewelry stores after cutting. The remaining stones were intensively used in Soviet industry.
The deposit developed so rapidly that the South African company De Beers was simply forced to buy up Soviet diamonds in droves in order to prevent a world decline in prices for them. The leadership of this organization applied for a visit to the city of Mirny (Yakutia). The quarry struck them, but they didn’t stay there for long ...
Industrial Tricks
The government of the USSR agreed, but demanded a reciprocal favor - that Soviet specialists be allowed into the fields in South Africa. A delegation from Africa arrived in Moscow ... and was greatly delayed there, because banquets were constantly arranged for the guests. When the specialists finally arrived in the city of Mirny, they had no more than 20 minutes to inspect the quarry itself.
But what they saw still shocked them to the core. For example, the guests simply could not imagine the technology of diamond mining without the use of water. However, there is nothing surprising in the conditions for this: in those places for almost seven months a year there is a sub-zero temperature, and you should not joke with permafrost. The city of Mirny stands in a dangerous place! The depth of the quarry is such that, if desired, even a miniature sea can be arranged here.
Brief history of mining
From 1957 to 2001, more than $17 billion worth of diamonds were mined here. The quarry near the city of Mirny in Siberia during the development process expanded so much that from the bottom to the surface the length of the road for trucks was eight kilometers. It should be understood that in 2001 the deposit was not depleted at all: it was simply that open-pit diamond mining became too dangerous. Scientists were able to find out that the vein stretches to a depth of more than a kilometer, and in these conditions an underground mine is already needed. By the way, it reached its design capacity of one million tons of ore already in 2012. Today, experts believe that it is possible to develop this unique field for another 35 years (approximately).
Some terrain issues
Helicopters are strictly forbidden to fly over the quarry, since such a flight is certain death for the machine and crew. The laws of physics just throw the helicopter to the bottom of the quarry. The high walls of the tube also have their drawbacks: there is a far from illusive possibility that one day precipitation and erosion will lead to the formation of a monstrous landslide that will completely swallow the city of Mirny (Yakutia). The quarry, the photo of which is in the article, can also be used for purposes that some may consider real fiction. We are talking about the possibility of creating a unique city of the future in a titanic pit.
"City of the Future": dreams or reality?
Nikolay Lutomsky was appointed the head of this project. The most difficult thing in the upcoming work is to create a cyclopean concrete structure that will not only strengthen the walls of the quarry, but will also burst it, providing additional strength. It will be an incredible tourist attraction that only the city of Mirny can boast of!
The quarry, the photo of which can be seen in the review, is supposed to be closed from above with a transparent dome, on the sides of which solar panels will be mounted. Of course, the climate in Yakutia is extremely harsh, but there are enough sunny days. Power engineers assume that batteries alone will be able to generate at least 200 MW of energy per year. Finally, it will be possible to take advantage of the warmth of the planet itself.
The fact is that in winter this area cools down to -60 degrees Celsius. Yes, it is difficult to envy those for whom the city of Mirny (Yakutia) is their homeland. The quarry, whose photo is amazing, is frozen in the same way, but only to a depth of 150 meters. Below - constantly positive temperature. The futuristic city is supposed to be divided into three main tiers at once. At the lowest level they want to grow agricultural products, on the middle one it is planned to mark out a full-fledged forest park zone.
The upper part is a zone for permanent residence of people, in addition to residential premises, there will be offices, entertainment complexes, and so on. If the construction plan is fully implemented, the area of the city will be three million "squares". Up to 10 thousand people can live here at the same time. Peaceful city (Yakutia) has about 36 thousand citizens. The quarry, whose depth is half a kilometer, will allow them to rest comfortably without flying to distant lands for this.
Other information on the Ecocity project
Initially, this project was given the name "Ecocity 2020", but today it is clear that it will obviously not be possible to implement it by the scheduled date. By the way, why are they going to build it at all? It's about the residents: only five months a year their living conditions more or less correspond to a comfortable norm, and the rest of the time they live at temperatures that are more typical for the Arctic and Antarctica. The city will allow them to relax at any time of the year, basking in the sun, and you should not forget about the production capacity of giant farms: all residents and tourists will be more than provided with vitamin fruits and vegetables.
In order for the lower levels to receive enough light, it is supposed to leave a lighting shaft of gigantic diameter in the center. In addition to solar panels, the effectiveness of which is still quite doubtful (plus installation difficulties), some engineers offer the option of building a nuclear power plant. To date, all this is in the stage of very vague plans. I really hope that the city of Mirny, whose diamond quarry is known all over the world, will become more comfortable for people to live in it.
As we said, in the 60s, up to two kilograms of diamonds were mined here a year, and a fifth of them were of high gem quality. There were up to a gram of pure raw materials per ton of rock, and among the stones there were many that were suitable for jewelry processing. Today, there are approximately 0.4 g of diamonds per ton of ore.
The largest diamond
At the end of December 1980, the most in the history of the deposit was found here. This giant, weighing 68 grams, received the solemn name "XXVI Congress of the CPSU."
When was open pit mining stopped?
When did they "finish off" Mirny? The diamond quarry became dangerous to develop in the 1990s, when the working depth reached 525 meters. At the same time, the bottom of the pit was flooded. It was Mir that became the largest diamond quarry in our country. Mining lasted more than 44 years. Until that time, the production was managed by the Sakha company, whose annual profit exceeded $600 million. Today the mine is run by Alrosa. This corporation is one of the largest diamond producers in the world.
When did the idea of the closed mine come about?
Already in the 1970s, the construction of the first tunnels began, as everyone understood the impossibility of continuous open-pit mining. But this method was transferred to a permanent basis only in 1999. To date, it is known for sure that there is still a vein at a depth of 1200 meters. It is possible that diamonds will be mined even deeper.
Here is what kind of raw materials the Republic of Yakutia is rich in: the city of Mirny, the quarry in which staggers the imagination of everyone, is one of the sources of national prosperity. The diamonds that are mined there are used not only for the needs of jewelry companies, but also for the production of many complex devices and mechanisms.
