Kimberlite diamond pipe is the largest diamond mining quarry. The first kimberlite pipe

Kimberlite pipe is a vertical or near to such a geological body, which was formed as a result of a breakthrough through the earth's crust of gases. This pillar is truly gigantic in size. Kimberlite pipe has a shape that resembles a huge carrot or glass. Its upper part is a gigantic inflating of the conical shape, but with depth it gradually narrows and finally passes into the vein. In fact, such a geological body is a kind of ancient volcano, the ground part of which was destroyed to a greater extent due to erosion processes.

What is kimberlite?

This material is a rock that consists of phlogopite, pyrope, olivine and other minerals. Kimberlite is black in color with a greenish and bluish tinge. At the moment, there are more than one and a half thousand bodies of the mentioned material, ten percent of which belong to the diamond. Specialists note that approximately 90% of all reserves of diamond sources are concentrated in kimberlite pipes, and the remaining 10% in lamproite.

Riddles connected with the origin of diamonds

Despite a lot of research in the field of diamond deposits, modern scientists are still unable to explain some of the features associated with the origin and existence of these precious stones.

The first puzzle: why is the kimberlite pipe located exclusively on ancient platforms and shields, which are the most stable and stable blocks of the earth's crust? After all, the thickness of these layers reaches 40 kilometers of rock, consisting of basalts, granites, etc. What kind of power is needed to make such a breakthrough ?! Why does a kimberlite pipe break through a powerful platform, and not a thinner, say, ocean floor, whose thickness is only ten kilometers, or transitional zones - on the borders of the oceans with continents? After all, hundreds of active volcanoes are located on these sites ... Geologists are not able to answer this question.

The next mystery is the amazing shape of the kimberlite tube. In fact, it is not at all like a pipe, but rather - a glass for champagne: a huge cone on a thin leg that goes into the depths.

The third mystery concerns the unusual form of minerals in such rocks. All the minerals that crystallize under the conditions of molten magma form clearly cut crystals. Examples are apatite, zircon, olivine, garnet, ilmenite. They are widely distributed in kimberlites, but they do not have crystalline facets, but resemble river pebbles. All attempts by geologists to find an answer to this riddle led to nothing. At the same time, the diamonds adjacent to the mentioned minerals have an ideal form of octahedra, which are characterized by sharp ribs.

As the first kimberlite tube was named

The first of such geological bodies, which was found and mastered by people, is in the south of the African continent in the province of Kimberley. The name of this locality became a common name for all such bodies, as well as rocks containing diamonds. This first tube is called the "Big Hole", it is considered the largest career that people developed without the use of technology. Currently, he completely exhausted himself and is the main attraction of the city. From 1866 to 1914, the first kimberlite pipe gave developers 2722mkg of diamonds, which amounted to 14.5 million carats. In his career, about 50 thousand people worked, who, with the help of shovels and picks, extracted about 22.5 million tons of soil. The development area is 17 hectares, its perimeter is 1.6 km, and its width is 463 m. The depth of the pit was 240 meters, but after completion of production it was covered with an empty rock. Currently, the "Big Hole" is an artificial lake, the depth of which is only 40 meters.

The largest quarry for diamond mining

The mining of diamonds in Russia began in the middle of the last century with the discovery in 1954 of the Zarnitsa deposit on the Vilyui River, the size of which was 32 hectares. And a year later in Yakutia, the second kimberlite diamond tube was found, she was given the name "Mir". Around this field grew the city of Mirny. To date, the mentioned kimberlite pipe (the photo will help the reader to imagine the grandeur of this diamond field) is considered the largest in the world. The pit depth is 525 meters, and the diameter is 1.2 km. The extraction of diamonds by the open method was stopped in 2004. Currently, an underground mine is being built to work out the remaining reserves, the extraction of which by open-pit method is dangerous and unprofitable. According to experts, the development of the tube in question will continue for at least 30 years.

History of kimberlite pipe "Mir"

The development of the deposit was carried out under severe climatic conditions. In order to break through the permafrost, we had to blow up the rock with dynamite. Already in the 60s of the last century, the deposit yielded 2 kg of diamonds a year, 20% of which corresponded to the quality of jewelery and, after cutting, entered the jewelry stores as diamonds. The rest were used for industrial purposes. From 1957 to 2001, the mine "Mir" produced diamonds, the total value of which amounted to 17 billion dollars. During this period, the quarry was so expanded that freight transport had to travel 8 kilometers from the surface to the bottom along a spiral road. Helicopters were categorically forbidden to fly over the object, since a huge funnel simply sucks all the aircraft. High walls of the quarry are also dangerous for land transport and people working on extraction: there is a threat of a landslide. Today, scientists are developing a project for eco-cities, which should be located in the quarry. For this, the pit is planned to be covered with a translucent dome, on which solar panels will be installed. The space of the future city is planned to be divided into longlines: the upper one for the residential zone, the middle one for the creation of the forest park zone, and the lower one will have the agricultural significance.

Conclusion

Diamond mining has a long history. As the discovery of new deposits and the depletion of reconnaissance, the leadership passed first from India to Brazil, and then to South Africa. At the moment, the leading position is occupied by Botswana, the second place is Russia.