World’s Biggest Diamond Mine is located at Mirna, Eastern Siberia, Russia. The mine is 525 meters (1,722 ft) deep and has a diameter of 1,200 m (3,900 ft).
The mine is so big and giat that the airspace above the mine is closed for helicopters because of a few incidents in which they were sucked in by the downward air flow. To give an idea how big it is here is is a fine illustration.
This giant truck, BELAZ (200-220 ton payload ) (see Figure 1), looks like small spot on next picture (see Figure 2). The truck in the picture, one of the biggest in the world, is just a small point in comparison to the diamond mine.
The town is strictly off limits to outsiders without a special permit and the authorities regard any foreigners with considerable suspicion. BBC Reported about this here
History:
The mine was discovered on June 13, 1955 by Soviet geologists Yuri Khabardin, Ekaterina Elagina and Viktor Avdeenko during the large Amakinsky Expedition in Yakut ASSR. They found traces of volcanic rock kimberlite which are usually associated with diamonds. This finding was the first success in the search for kimberlite in Russia, after numerous failed expeditions of the 1940s and 1950s. For this discovery, in 1957 Khabardin was given the Lenin Prize, which was one of the highest awards in the Soviet Union.
The development of the mine had started in 1957 in extremely harsh climate conditions. Seven months of winter per year froze the ground into permafrost, which was hard in winter, but turned into sludge in summer. Buildings had to be raised on piles, so that they would not sink in summer, and the main processing plant had to be built on a better ground found 20 km away from the mine. The winter temperatures were so low that car tires and steel would shatter and oil would freeze. During the winter, the workers used jet engines to defreeze and dig out the permafrost or blasted it with dynamite to get access to the underlying kimberlite. The entire mine had to be covered at night to prevent the machinery from freezing.
Photo Gallery:
Thanks To “weirdomatic.com”, usmra.com,
That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve seen in a while I still can’t really comprehend how big that mine is
I think this is really great! Do you have any videos? Thanks
Nancy Degan
Glory Hole
It is probably also most expensive diamonds to excavate in the World.
thats tiny come to aus i work in mines bigger
great thing though
in your dreams
that is one huge hole on earth!!!!
Pointless work… diamond is only a kind of stone. dumb people give much pointless worth on it.
can you feed hungry people with diamond? can you eat? can you become much wiser with diamond?
diamond is the root disgrace’s cause in Africa and all over the world.
Diamond is not just mined because it looks good. Its also used in industry, since it is the hardest natural mineral and the best thermal conductor known to man. Being one of the best conductors, it can be used in very high quality heat sinks.
diamond is a stone that is one of the hardest things and is used widely in manufacturing, it doesn’t just look pretty it is used for commercial purposes. but thats just a heads up. So if diamonds are used for manufacturing, that means things are getting made for the support of our lives in one way or another, and if u have a diamond, and you sell it, you will have the money to eat, and get clothes and maybe an apartment, but since it seems that you don’t have any diamonds, maybe you should look into some sort of JOB to support your appetite.
P.S. check this out.. http://www.ehow.com/about_5431862_diamonds-used-today.html
Totally awesome piece human engineering and a massive scare. I wonder how much have they have mine in all those years.
Diamond windows are made from thin diamond membranes and used to cover openings in lasers, x-ray machines and vacuum chambers. They are transparent, very durable and resistant to heat and abrasion.
Because diamonds are very hard they are often used as an abrasive. Most industrial diamonds are used for these purposes. Small particles of diamond are embedded in a saw blade, a drill bit or a grinding wheel for the purpose of cutting, drilling or grinding. They might also be ground into a powder and made into a diamond paste that is used for polishing or for very fine grinding.
A little known fact is that 4 out of 5 diamond stones that are mined are not used in jewelery. Only 20% of stones that are mined can be cut and used in jewelry.
Diamond bearing are used in instruments for laboratoties. No friction is created when rubbing them together because of their hardness.Some machines turn at 90 000 revolutions a minute.No lubrications are needed even at this high speed to keep the bearing from wearing away.The round point on the diamond needs to resist being worn down.In turn, it does not wear out,it grooves on the record.The sound will stay true since the diamond does not rush.
Ignorance is bliss though, diamonds don’t do anything good!
kinda reminds me of an ant hill in revers sorta like you see al the little ants taking out one little tiny peace at a time, then they show the truck scale shot kinda reminds me of that lol.
well noe that depends i could feed a whole village for a year with one dimond, sell it then use the money, and from seeing what the diamond has done yes i think it has made us much wiser for we have learnd what lentghs people are willing to go for a simple shiny thing. lol
uh “X-Ray machines,lasers,vacume chambers,” “diamonds dont do anything good” ???
well the first 3 do a lot of good, did i miss something???
When they finish mining it it will make a wicked ski resort
well… open your mind man….dont be stupid..
Don’t you think scary mine
nice
this russians are able to dig up anyone’s ass if they want to…
Can money from corrupt Indian politicians( Sharad Pawar & CO) fill this mine with currency notes?
Maybe the mine is too small for the big money?
Wow!!
Your sarcasm meter. Turn it on.