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Home » Archives for March 2011

Russian Diamond Mines

Thursday, March 3, 2011 by admin

Despite the extremely cold temperature, Russia plays host to some of the largest open pit diamond operations in the world.

The Mir diamond mine is no longer in operation but its size still astonishes people. It was the first mine to open in the former Soviet Union. It was discovered during exploration done to locate mines in 1955. It ran all the way until 1994.

The Mir diamond is located in Eastern Siberia. It is sometimes referred to as the Mirny mine. The mine is so large and so deep that satellite imagery taken of the mine is a popular image to be sold on postcards. Helicopters are not allowed to fly near the area because there have been instances where they have been pulled downward by the presence of the mine. The Mir mine currently is abandoned with no plans to reopen it.

The Udachnaya mine, located in the Artic circle in Russia, is still in operation. It was discovered just days after the Mir mine was located. It has one of the largest diamond deposits, both in Russia and in the world. It also is one of the largest open-pit mines still in operation. The Udachnaya mine has run into problems because the waste water contains too much bromine and chlorine and therefore can not be simply deposited into nearby rivers. Elaborate well draining systems have been created in order to allow the mine to continue operations.

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Venetia - The De Beers Flagship Mine

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The flagship mine for De Beers is the Venetia, located in South Africa. De Beers began searching for diamonds in this area as early as 1969, but the mine was not in full operation until 1993. The Venetia mine is the largest in South Africa and accounts for over 40% of all diamonds mined there.

The Venetia mine is an open-pit mine but there is a possibility that the mine could expand underground as well. Mine officials expect the surface mining to be able to continue for around twenty more years.

In June, De Beers installed a new diamond crusher at the mine which cost close to $32 million dollars. All of the diamond recovery work is done nearby. First, the kimberlite is exposed and the ore is blasted and then loaded into trucks. Once at the plant, it is crushed and sorted by size. X-ray fluorescence is used to find the diamonds and workers actually do the final sorting by hand. The diamonds are then sent off to the Central Selling Organisation which classifies the diamonds into over five thousand categories.

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De Beers has been especially mindful to the environmental concerns of the Venetia mine area. No toxic chemicals are used in the processing of the ore and no chemical pollutants are released. All of the pipelines used are buried and they use a dust control system. They also try to minimize the noise coming from the area. They also set up a wildlife preserve and moved many animals from the mining area to the preserve.

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Diavik Diamond Mines

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Diavik Mines is located in Canada’s Northwest territory. The mine is located in the wilderness, not too far from the Artic Circle. Animals such as grizzly bears frequent the area. Because of the harsh conditions, no traditional roads exist into the mining area. Each year, the mining corporations work together to build a passageway into the mining area. It is termed the “ice road.” The road opens in early February and closes in early April. Besides the mining companies, it is also used by tourism companies and people native to the area such as hunters.

Seventy percent of the road is made of ice and a large portion is built on frozen lakes. It takes around fifteen hours to travel from the closest populated area to the Diavik mine. Supplies have to be transported down the ice road to the mine. The most common supply needed is diesel fuel.

The area around the mine contains administrative buildings, the actual processing plants for the diamonds and dormitories for the mine workers to live in. The Diavik mine employs around 700 workers.

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Diavik is a relatively new mine. Exploration began in 1992. By 1997, the first batch of diamonds had been pulled from the mine. Mine construction began in 2001. Diamond production began in 2003 and by May of the same year they had retrieved a million carats of diamonds. Annual diamond production is now around eight million carats. Diavik officials estimate that the mine can last another sixteen to twenty-two years.

It is estimated that Diavik mine contains over ninety-five million carats of rough diamonds.

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The Argyle Diamond Mine

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The Argyle Diamond mine, located in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia, is the largest producer of diamonds in the world by volume.

Diamonds were first found in the Argyle mine region in the 70’s. Traditionally diamonds are found in kimberlite ore, but diamonds found here were located in lamproite ore. Argyle has an open pit mine. The main diamond pipeline was named AK1 which stands for Argyle Kimberlite 1. This was prior to the discovery that the diamonds were actually contained in lamproite rather than kimberlite. This open mine pit is expected to be depleted by 2008.

Work has begun now on an underground mine which would be located beneath the original mine floor. Once completed, the underground mine tunnel should allow the Argyle mine to stay open until approximately 2018. However, once operations move from open pit mining to underground mining the diamond production will drop by almost fifty percent.

Argyle operates its own processing plant which runs twenty-four hours a day. Argyle typically extracts 25 to 30 million carats of diamonds a year.

Argyle mines employs over 500 workers. The mine is located in a remote area and has living quarters for the employees who typically work in two week alternating shifts.

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A large amount of the quality diamonds produced by Argyle are brown diamonds which typically do not bring a large profit. Argyle’s highest income producing diamonds are their pink and red diamonds. Over 90% of the pink and red diamonds in the world come from Argyle. Despite this, less than 1% of diamonds mined from Argyle are pink or red.

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Crater of Diamonds State Park - Mine Your Own Diamonds!

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Diamond mining is not just limited to large corporations who run enormous mining operations. Surprisingly, there is one diamond mine in the United States that allows individuals to search for their own diamonds and keep whatever they find.

Crater of Diamonds state park is the only diamond producing site in the world that allows the public open access. The park is approximately 37 acres and it is located on top of a volcanic pipe. Geologists estimate that the diamonds were likely formed over 100 million years ago and were pushed closer to the earth’s surface by the final shiftings of the earth’s crust. Diamonds were first found in the area in 1906 by a farmer who had recently purchased the 160-acre farm. The farmer was named John Huddleston and he is remembered at a celebration at the Crater of Diamonds park each year.

After Huddleston sold his property, the Arkansas Diamond company was formed. A commercial plant was built on the property but it was destroyed by arson in 1919. It wasn’t until 1949 that the area began to be open to the public. The State of Arkansas bought the property in 1972 in order to create a state park.

Individuals wishing to search for diamonds pay a nominal fee. They are then free to look for diamonds, as well as other precious gemstones which are found in abundance there. The staff at Crater of Diamonds is able to identify rocks and diamonds at the visitor center. Diamonds are weighed and certified on site. Visitors search for diamonds either by shifting the top soil through a screen or by just looking for diamonds lying on the ground surface. Individuals who are more serious about diamond hunting will dig deep holes and go through each layer of soil with multiple screens and washings and then hand search for diamonds.

There have been multiple notable diamonds found at the park. In the 1920’s, a diamond nicknamed “Uncle Sam” was located. It measured over 40 carats and is the largest diamond ever discovered in North America. Also found at Crater of Diamonds park was the “Strawn-Wagner Diamond” which is the most perfect diamond ever certified.

Crater of Diamonds works on the policy that despite the\nvalue of a diamond, it belongs to the person who finds it. In 2005, there were\nfive hundred and thirty six diamonds located. The most recent large diamond find was in September of 2006, when abrown diamond weighing 6.35 carats was found.

Crater of Diamonds works on the policy that despite the value of a diamond, it belongs to the person who finds it. In 2005, there were five hundred and thirty six diamonds located. The most recent large diamond find was in September of 2006, when a brown diamond weighing 6.35 carats was found.

For more information regarding the Crater of Diamonds State Park, Visit: www.craterofdiamondsstatepark.com

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The Ekati Diamond Mine

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When you think of diamond mines, you are likely to think of South Africa. But there has been a recent surge of diamond mines outside of Africa in places such as Canada and Australia.

Canada’s Ekati diamond mine is located not far from the Artic circle. You can only get to it by air. It is located in an area known for its extremely harsh climate.

Ekati has five open pit mines that are relatively small in size as well as three underground mines. Ekati has its own airstrip, processing facility, electrical system, waste treatment plant and housing which can host a thousand people. It also has recreational centers available for its employees and the living environment has been compared to that of a larger hotel. Most of the employees work full time and they fly in and out of the Ekati area in shifts. The mine also employs many aboriginal workers.

The Ekati mine has won many awards for its work to preserve the environment around the mine. It also is known for its outstanding safety record.

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The mine officially opened in 1998 and since that time has produced over 26 million carats of diamonds. It currently produces over 4 million carats of diamonds a year and is expected to continue operations for the next twenty-five years.

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The Diamond Mining Industry

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The diamond industry is different than most other types of industries in the world. To understand why diamonds are so valuable and it seems in such short supply, you must first understand how the diamond industry works. There are two main types of diamonds, a gem grade diamond and diamonds that are used for industrial products. Both types of diamonds are marketed and sold quite differently from one another.


A gem grade diamond is mined, and traded to only a few key entities before it is available to the consumer; this makes it easier for the companies involved to keep strict controls of the prices of the gem grade diamonds. A gem grade diamond is not a commodity. For instance, gold, silver and other precious metals are sold on an open market, the diamond trade it is a cartel or a group of suppliers that control the output and thus are in collusion. They set prices for the diamonds that are much higher than their true value.

De Beers is a company that controls a large portion of the diamond mines, trading and wholesale outlets associated with gem grade diamonds. It is said that one company alone – De Beers is responsible for up to half of all gem grade diamonds that arrive on the market. At one time, estimates stated that almost 80% of all diamonds were controlled by De Beers.

Today there are only a few companies that handle the trade of diamonds. The DTC (Diamond Trading Company) which is a subsidiary of De Beers is the company that conducts the trade of diamonds throughout the world. There are only a few key places where the diamond trade exists. They are Antwerp, New York, Tel Aviv, London, Amsterdam and Surat. The vast majority of diamonds that are mined are sent to one of these locations to be polished, cut and traded. At this point, Sightholders sell finished gem grade diamonds to retail outlets. There are very few Sightholders which sell diamonds to the wholesale and retail outlets.

These outlets or markets where gem grade diamonds are sold to wholesale or retail outlets are called bourses. There are only 24 bourses, making the wholesale and retail market extremely limited. At this point gem grade diamonds are sold directly to either wholesale or retail entities. They are only available in small lots to keep demand high.

It is estimated that in 2002, gem grade rough diamonds directly from the mine were considered to have a market value of 9 billion dollars, after these diamonds were cut and polished, their price increased to 14 billion. When the diamonds were sold to the wholesale market, their value increased to 28 billion dollars and finally the retail value of the diamonds sold reached a value of 57 billion dollars.

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