Mirny Mine, Alrosa

THE HOLE AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD: THE AMAZING STORY OF THE MIR DIAMOND MINE

Mirny Mine

There are many prolific diamond mines in the world, some more famous than others – such as the Cullinan in South Africa or the Jubilee in Russia, but none of them quite compare to the magnificent Mir (or Mirny) mine in Eastern Siberia.

 

Running 525 meters deep, with a diameter of 1,200 meters, Mir is the second largest excavated hole in the world – with an entire city dedicated to its operation and bearing its name, perched right on it. The air space above the pit is closed now, following rumored but unsubstantiated incidents of helicopters being sucked downwards. No crashes, however, were ever reported.

 

Mir’s kimberlite deposits were discovered in 1955 – the second such find in Russia after the Zarnitsa mine in 1954. Two years afterward, the development of the mine began – weathering extreme climate conditions such as seven months of winter freeze, ground turned to slush in the summer, and the covering of all equipment in the mine so it wouldn’t freeze during the night.

 

In the 1960s, Mir was already producing 10,000,000 carats of diamonds per year, of which one fifth was of gem quality. In the 1970s, construction of a network of tunnels for underground diamond recovery began. By 1999, the project operated exclusively as an underground mine. Between 1957 and 2001, when it operated as an open pit mine, Mir produced $17 billion worth of rough diamonds.

 

Today, the aggregate length of the mine tunnels and workings is well in excess of 10 kilometers. In 2014, the underground tunnels in Mir produced more than six million carats of rough diamonds. Mir continues to produce impressive diamonds; in May 2015, for instance, Russian mining giant Alrosa recovered a 78.02 carat diamond from the mine.

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