Near the city of Mirny, in the Yakutsk region permafrost, on the left bank of the middle course of the Irel River, there is the largest diamond quarry in the world, which is called the Mir kimberlite pipe.
Today, a diamond quarry in Yakutia has the following impressive parameters:
- Its depth is 525 meters.
- The volume of ore extracted from the quarry is 165 million cubic meters.
- The bottom diameter is 160-310 meters.
- The diameter along the outer ring is 1.2 kilometers.
- The depth that has been explored is up to 1200 meters.
At first glance, one of the largest quarries in the world, where diamonds are mined, impresses with its scope and amazes the imagination. The formation of a kimberlite pipe is a consequence of a volcanic eruption, when gases at a huge temperature and highest pressure through the earth's crust burst forth from the bowels of the earth. A volcanic explosion brings to the surface of the Earth a rock containing diamonds - kimberlite.
The tube has the shape of a glass and looks like a funnel of enormous proportions. The breed bears the same name with the city of Kimberley, located in South Africa, where in 1871 a diamond was found, the weight of which was 85 carats. Found 16, 7 gram "pebble" gave rise to Diamond Rush.
History of the Mir kimberlite pipe
Back in the early 19th century, rumors began to emerge about the presence of precious stones in the territory of Yakutia and the western lands bordering it. Teacher Petr Starovatov after civil war In Kempendyai I talked to an old man who told him about his find a couple of years ago in one of the local rivers - it was a sparkling pebble the size of a pinhead. He sold the find to a merchant for two bottles of vodka, a sack of cereals and five bags of tea. After a while, another person said that he also found precious stones on the banks of the Kempendyak and Chona rivers. But it was only in 1947-1948 that a targeted search for diamonds began for the first time on the territory of the Siberian Platform. In the autumn of 1948, a group of geologists led by G. Fanshtein launched prospecting work on the Vilyui and Chona rivers, and on August 7, 1949, the first diamond was found on the Sokolina sand spit, and subsequently a diamond placer was discovered here. The prospecting work of 1950-1953 was also crowned with success - several diamond placers were discovered, and on August 21, 1954, the first kimberlite pipe in the Soviet Union, called Zarnitsa, was discovered.
Soon, on June 13, 1955, the geological party saw a tall larch with exposed roots, where the fox dug a deep hole. The bluish color of the earth suggested that it was kimberlite. This is how a team of geologists discovered a diamond pipe that turned out to be the largest and richest in the world. The following telegram was sent to the authorities: "They lit the pipe of peace, the tobacco is excellent." By means of this classified radiogram, Soviet geologists reported to the capital about the discovery of the Mir kimberlite diamond pipe. The phrase excellent tobacco meant that diamonds contained a large amount.
This discovery was extremely important for the USSR, since after the start of industrialization, the country experienced an acute shortage of industrial diamonds. It was believed that the application diamond tools doubled the economic potential of the country, and soon the village of "Mirny" arose, where motorcades moved along the impassability, overcoming 2800 km of the way. At the beginning of 1960, the USSR was already actively mining diamonds worth $1 billion a year, and the village of Mirny became the center of the Soviet diamond mining industry, and today 40,000 people live here.
The richest diamond mine in the world
The deposit was developed in extremely difficult climatic conditions, and in order to break deep into the permafrost, the earth had to be blown up with dynamite. Already in 1960, the annual production of diamonds was 2 kilograms, and 1/5 of them were of gem quality.
Diamonds, after appropriate cutting, turned into diamonds of amazing beauty, which were used to create jewelry. Soviet citizens planning to get married could afford to buy exquisite diamond engagement rings, in which diamonds were mined in the Yakut Mir kimberlite pipe. The remaining 80% of mined diamonds have been used for industrial purposes, since according to the Mohs hardness reference mineral scale, this is the hardest mineral in the world with the highest thermal conductivity, dispersion and refraction.
The active development of the Mir kimberlite pipe was of most concern to the South African company De Beers, which was forced to buy Soviet-made diamonds in order to control prices on the world market. The first persons of the company, after negotiations with the Soviet leadership, agreed on the arrival of a delegation from their side in the village of Mirny. A positive answer was given, but with one condition - a delegation from the USSR, in turn, would visit diamond quarries in South Africa.
The delegation of the South African company in 1776 arrived in Moscow with the aim of further flight to the village of Mirny, but it was deliberately delayed, arranging endless meetings and banquet feasts. When the delegation nevertheless arrived in Yakutia to inspect the Mir kimberlite pipe, they had only 20 minutes to inspect it. Despite this, the De Beers specialists were strongly impressed by the scope of what they saw, and were surprised that the Soviet specialists did not use water when processing the ore. Given that in this region for 7 months it costs subzero temperature, it is simply impossible to do so.
Today, the city of Mirny has turned from a small tent settlement into a modern industrial city with asphalt roads, developed infrastructure and nine-story high-rise buildings. It has an airport, two diamond processing factories, a city park, bars, restaurants, an art gallery, swimming pools, a stadium, 3 libraries, an art school, modern Palace Culture and hotel in 4 floors. For a provincial town, there is a rather high intellectual potential here. The research institute "Yakutniproalmaz" has been working here for many years and the Polytechnic Institute is open to applicants.
For 44 years of operation of the Mir quarry (between 1957 and 2001), diamonds were mined here, the cost of which amounted to $ 17 billion. The scale of the quarry increased to such latitudes that trucks had to travel almost 8 km along a spiral road in order to rise from the bottom of the quarry to the surface.
Today he owns a diamond quarry Russian company ALROSA, which in 2001 stopped mining ore in the Mir quarry using open pit technology. main reason- low efficiency and danger.
Research by scientists has shown that diamonds lie at a depth of more than 1,000 meters, and in order to establish effective mining, not a quarry is needed, but an underground mine. The design capacity of such a mine, according to the plan, will be about a million tons of ore annually. The total period planned for the development of the field is 34 years.
Interesting facts about the kimberlite pipe
- Helicopters are strictly prohibited from flying over the deep quarry. The reason is as follows - a huge funnel causes turbulence in the air masses, in which aircraft cannot maneuver safely.
- The walls of the quarry are incredibly high, and they are dangerous not only for helicopters. There is an increased risk of landslides here.
According to rumors, local residents are afraid that one day a huge quarry can absorb the territories adjacent to it, including those that are built up for human habitation, but these are just urban legends of the Mirny village.
Ecological city of the future on the site of a former diamond quarry
Today, an empty huge pit is of interest to scientists, and ideas are already emerging to create an eco-city in this funnel. The head of the architectural bureau of Moscow, Nikolai Lutomsky, shared his plans for an incredible solution. “The main part of the project is concrete structure huge scale, which will play the role of a kind of plug, bursting the quarry from the inside. A light-transparent dome will cover the pit from above, and it is planned to install solar panels.
Despite the harsh climate of Yakutia, there are a lot of clear days a year, and the batteries can generate about 200 MW of electricity. It will be enough "with a head" to meet the needs of the future city. In addition, you can use the heat of the Earth, and if in winter the air temperature is minus 60 degrees Celsius, then the temperature of the soil at a depth below 150 meters will be positive (below permafrost). This fact adds energy efficiency to the future project. The city is planned to be divided into three parts:
- Upper will be used for permanent residence of people. It will contain residential buildings, buildings and structures of socio-cultural and administrative significance;
- middle tier- a zone where a forest and a park area will be spread, designed to purify the air in the city;
- lower tier will be a so-called vertical farm - agricultural products will be grown here to meet the needs of the city.
The total planned area of the project is 3 million square meters. The city will be able to accommodate up to 10,000 tourists, farm workers and service personnel.
On August 21, 2009, a new significant date in the history of diamond mining, the Mirny underground mine was launched. This is the apogee of many years of work of thousands of people, a powerful production unit of AK ALROSA, which makes it possible to extract about 1 million tons of ore containing diamonds. Last years Russia confidently holds the palm in diamond mining, thanks to ALROSA. During the year, diamonds were exported in the amount of 1.7 billion dollars, and most of them are in European countries.
Diamonds, having lain for hundreds of millions of years in the bowels of the earth, thanks to volcanic explosions, were thrown to the surface of the earth. Volcanic processes contribute to the formation of primary deposits of diamonds - kimberlite pipes, the shape of which resembles a funnel or glass.
Kimberlite pipes are geological bodies filled with kimberlite or other volcanic rock containing diamonds and other stones, no less precious rocks. Diamond mining is always closely associated with the presence of kimberlite, a rock containing precious diamonds.
Now explored and received world fame thousands of kimberlite pipes around the world, differing only in their size and diamond reserves.
The top three diamond deposits include: the Tanzanian Mwadui mine, the Udachnaya and Mir kimberlite pipes located in Yakutia.
Location
Mirny is located in the western part of Yakutia, on the Irelyakh River. Distance to the capital of the Republic of Sakha - Yakutsk highway"Vilyui" is 1072 kilometers, and by air - only 820 km.
The Mir kimberlite pipe is the biggest man-made miracle not only in Russia, but also in the world, it is a famous diamond quarry. The quarry is located near the city of Mirny, located in Yakutia. After the opening of a quarry with the richest reserves of diamonds, a settlement of the same name arose, then, thanks to incredibly large deposits, the settlement of Mirny grew into the diamond kingdom of Yakutia.
Climatic conditions
The city of Mirny is the diamond gem of Yakutia, located in the northern part of the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere. The weather in this area is sharply continental. AT winter period the weather is quite frosty, the summer is short, but moderately warm.
How to get to the mysterious pipe?
If you are interested in the fantastic beauty and mystery of the Mir kimberlite pipe, and you definitely want to see the largest funnel on earth, use the following information.
The capital of the Republic of Sakha can be reached by four modes of transport - air, road, water and mixed ( Railway+ car).
Most popular species transport that will help you get to Yakutsk, and from there fly to the city of Mirny.
Moscow — Yakutsk
Water transport
In Yakutia, river transportation along the Lena River is popular. With the help of river modes of transport, passengers get to Yakutsk. Passenger ships depart from here every day to the largest regions of the republic. Navigation lasts from early June to mid-October and depends on meteorological reports. The only inconvenience of this type of transport is short term river crossings associated with the onset of winter.
Automobile transport
Yakutsk can be reached using by car, very popular in the region, since the rail connection has not yet reached it. On the other hand, the M-56 Lena highway was laid, originating in the city of Never, and the city of Yakutsk becomes the final point of the highway, the length of the highway is 1235 kilometers.
Air communication
The most convenient transport that will quickly deliver to Yakutsk is an airplane. The city has a large international airport that sends aircraft to all corners of our country. Flights depart to Yakutsk from three Moscow airports: Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Sheremetyevo.
The cost of air tickets is from 10 to 11 thousand rubles.
Railway communication + motor transport
Trains from Moscow from Kazansky railway station constantly run here. It is best to get by train to the stations of Neryungri, Aldan or Berkakit, and already in Yakutsk transfer to fixed-route taxis running between these cities.
Railway communication Moscow - Yakutsk
The length of the route Moscow - Yakutsk is 6828 km. Travel time - 130 hours. One train runs on it at regular intervals, carrying out movement according to a certain schedule.
Ticket price from 4100 rubles in a reserved seat car and from 9200 for travel in business class.
An excellent option for those who want to get from Moscow to Yakutsk quickly and comfortably is train No. 076E, the Moscow-Neryungri message, which follows without a change, the travel time will be 122 hours.
Yakutsk - Mirny
The city of Yakutsk is located at a distance of 1178 kilometers from Mirny.
Air communication
Travel time is 140 minutes.
Ticket price - from 11900 rubles and more.
The main attraction of Mirny
If you read fantastic stories and are prone to adventurous adventures, it's time to visit the grandiose in size and unusual in terms of exciting impressions, the Mir diamond quarry, located in the Yakut city of Mirny.
The hallmark of the city is the diamond pipe "Mir", local residents lovingly talk about it - a "big hole", the diameter of which is 1200 m, and the depth of the hole is more than 500 m. However, the figures given do not inspire such awe and respect as seen the sight of a kimberlite pipe, at the bottom of which an acidic lake splashes, which does not freeze even in the most severe frosts.
A special observation deck is installed on board the main Yakut sight, which is visited by numerous tourists, because it offers a fantastic picture of the cosmic landscape.
A trip to the Yakut city of Mirny will often be remembered, thanks to a unique and exciting excursion to the Mir diamond pipe. For a complete understanding of diamond developments, be sure to check out interesting museums: local history and historical production, local guides will show in detail, clearly and in detail the very process of mining and processing diamonds.
The end of the excursion tour can rightfully be called the so-called "diamond tours", in the program of which, a mandatory visit to jewelry stores, the purchase of diamond products, including local production.
In addition to the excursion trip, the purpose of which is to get acquainted with the history of the formation of a diamond quarry, independently visit the monument erected in honor of the discoverers of Yakut diamonds from mosaic panel located at the base of the monument. There is a beautiful park area next to it, take a walk along the Vilyuisky Ring and look into the museum of real kimberlites.
Where to stay?
For tourists who come to see the miracle created by human hands, there is a dilemma where to stay for the night and relax. There are several hotels in the city of Mirny, the rooms of which are equipped for comfortable living vacationers.
The Zarnitsa Hotel is located in the city center, about a 10-minute taxi ride from the airport terminal.
The cost of living is from 7000 rubles per day per person.
Hotel "Sever" is geographically located in the central part of the city of Mirny, next to the beautiful Lake Plestsy, the stadium and the sports complex "Zvezda".
The cost of living varies within the price range of 7000 - 8000 rubles per day per person.
If you are not attracted by the hotel service, you can find a room in private hotels via the Internet, the cost of living in which is much lower and varies in price ranges from 3000 rubles and more.
Among the amazing natural phenomena, one can certainly include periodically opening in different places the globe holes.
1. Kimberlite pipe "Mir" (Mir diamond pipe), Yakutia.
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-pit reserves, the extraction of which open way unprofitable.
The world's largest diamond quarry is amazing.
2.Kimberlite pipe" big hole" , South Africa.
Big Hole - a huge inactive diamond mine in the city of Kimberley (South Africa). It is believed that this is the largest quarry developed by people without the use of technology. It is currently the main attraction of the city of Kimberley.
Between 1866 and 1914, about 50,000 miners dug the shaft with picks and shovels, producing 2,722 tons of diamonds (14.5 million carats) in the process. During the development of the quarry, 22.5 million tons of soil were extracted. It was here that such famous diamonds as "De Beers" (428.5 carats), bluish-white "Porter Rhodes" (150 carats), orange-yellow " Tiffany" (128.5 carats). At present, this diamond deposit has been exhausted. The area of the "Big Hole" is 17 hectares. Its diameter is 1.6 km. The hole was dug to a depth of 240 meters, but then was filled with waste rock to a depth of 215 meters, currently the bottom of the hole is filled with water, its depth is 40 meters.
At the site of the mine earlier (about 70 - 130 million years ago) there was a volcano mouth. Almost a hundred years ago - in 1914, the development in the "Big Hole" was stopped, but the gaping mouth of the pipe remains to this day and now serves only as a bait for tourists, acting as a museum. And…begins to create problems. In particular, there was a serious danger of collapse not only of its edges, but also of the roads laid in the immediate vicinity of it. The South African road authorities have long banned the passage of heavy goods vehicles in these places, and now they strongly recommend that all other drivers avoid driving along Bultfontein Road in the Big Hole area. The authorities are going to completely block the dangerous section of the road. And the largest diamond company in the world, De Beers, which has owned this mine since 1888, did not find anything better than to get rid of it by putting it up for sale.
3. Kennecott Bingham Canyon Mine, Utah.
The largest active quarry in the world - the development of copper began in 1863 and is still going on. About a kilometer deep and three and a half kilometers wide.
It is the world's largest anthropogenic formation (dug out by man). It is an open pit mine.
As of 2008, it measures 0.75 miles (1.2 km) deep, 2.5 miles (4 km) wide and covers an area of 1,900 acres (7.7 sq km).
The ore was first discovered in 1850, and quarrying began in 1863, which continues to this day.
Currently, the quarry employs 1,400 people who extract 450,000 tons (408 thousand tons) of rock daily. The ore is loaded onto 64 large dump trucks capable of hauling 231 tons of ore, these trucks cost about US$3 million each.
4. Quarry "Dyavik" (Diavik), Canada. Diamonds are mined.
The Canadian quarry "Diavik" is perhaps one of the youngest (by development) diamond kimberlite pipes. It was first explored only in 1992, the infrastructure was created by 2001, and diamond mining began in January 2003. Presumably, the mine will last from 16 to 22 years.
The place of its exit to the surface of the earth is unique in itself. Firstly, this is not one, but three pipes at once, formed on the island of Las de Gras, about 220 km south of the Arctic Circle, off the coast of Canada. Because the hole is huge and the island is in the middle Pacific Ocean small, only 20 km²
and in a short time the Diavik diamond mine became one of the most important components of the Canadian economy. Up to 8 million carats (1600 kg) of diamonds are mined from this deposit annually. An airfield has been built on one of its neighboring islands, capable of receiving even huge Boeings. In June 2007, a consortium of seven mining companies announced their intention to sponsor environmental studies and begin construction on Canada's North Shore of a major port to receive cargo ships up to 25,000 tons, as well as a 211 km access road that will connect the port to the consortium's plants. . And this means that the hole in the ocean will grow and deepen.
5. Great Blue Hole, Belize.
The world-famous Great Blue Hole (“Great Blue Hole”) is the main attraction of the picturesque, ecologically perfectly clean Belize (formerly British Honduras) - a state in Central America, on the Yucatan Peninsula. No, this time it's not a kimberlite pipe. Not diamonds are “mined” from it, but tourists - diving enthusiasts from all over the world, thanks to which it feeds the country no worse than a diamond pipe. Probably, it would be better to call it not the “Blue Hole”, but the “Blue Dream”, since this can only be seen in dreams or in a dream. This is a true masterpiece, a miracle of nature - a perfectly round, twilight blue spot in the middle of the Caribbean Sea, surrounded by the lace front of the Lighthouse Reef atol.
View from space!
Width 400 meters, depth 145 - 160 meters.
As if floating above the abyss ...
6. Drainage hole in the reservoir of the Monticello dam.
A large man-made hole is located in Northern California, USA. But it's not just a hole. The drain hole in the reservoir of the Monticello Dam is the largest spillway in the world! It was built about 55 years ago. This funnel-shaped exit is simply indispensable here. It allows you to quickly dump excess water from the tank when its level exceeds allowable rate. A kind of safety valve.
Visually, the funnel looks like a giant concrete pipe. It is capable of passing through itself in a second as much as 1370 cubic meters. m of water! The depth of such a hole is about 21 m. From top to bottom, it has the shape of a cone, the diameter of which at the top reaches almost 22 m, and narrows down to 9 m and exits from the other side of the dam, removing excess water when the reservoir overflows. The distance from the pipe to the exit point, which is located slightly to the south, is approximately 700 feet (about 200 m).
7. Karst failure in Guatemala.
A giant funnel 150 meters deep and 20 meters in diameter. called groundwater and rains. During the formation of the failure, several people died and about a dozen houses were destroyed. According to local residents, from about the beginning of February, in the area of \u200b\u200bthe future tragedy, ground movements were felt, and a muffled rumble was heard from under the ground.
Once the world's largest diamond quarry, the Mir kimberlite pipe was created by human hands in the kingdom of permafrost at the address: Mirny, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Over the man-made crater, the flight of aircraft is strictly prohibited: a giant funnel with a diameter of 1,200 meters and a depth of 525 meters, initiating descending air currents, sucks in helicopters.
The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) is a fantastically rich in minerals geological province. It has no analogues not only in Russia, but throughout the world. All this arouses the undisguised envy of our foreign friends and partners. “It is unfair that the Lord God rewarded the land, where the temperature reaches minus 70 degrees in winter, with such riches!” statesmen and pundits of far and near abroad very often assert.+
In Yakut folklore, there is a legend that, having decided to fairly share precious materials and stones on the Earth, God flew in the winter cold over Yakutia and frostbitten his hands, as a result of which gold and diamonds scattered from an untied bag with precious stones over the mountains, river valleys and tundra , silver and platinum, and many other noble minerals.+
But for a long time, diamond deposits, which Yakutia is so rich in, remained inaccessible. More recently, no human has set foot on these lands, where permafrost reigns. And this is not surprising: in terms of the absolute value of the minimum temperature, Yakutia has no equal regions in the entire Northern Hemisphere.
Diamonds and "Kuzkina mother"
The Cold War marked the beginning of an intensive search for diamonds in Yakutia. At that time, the demand for strategic raw materials used in the defense industry sharply increased in the Soviet Union. For its purchase abroad, the country needed funds that could be obtained from the sale of precious stones that had already gained fame in the world market.
However, insignificant placers precious stone in the Urals could not satisfy the requests of the Soviet government in necessary funds. At the same time, venerable Soviet scientists stubbornly asserted: there are signs indicating the presence of kimberlite pipes in the Yakut land.
The formation of a kimberlite pipe occurs during a volcanic eruption, when through the earth's crust, gases from the bowels of the earth break out. The shape of such a tube resembles a funnel or glass. A volcanic explosion brings kimberlite rock, sometimes containing diamonds, from the bowels of the Earth. The breed is named after the city of Kimberley in South Africa, where an 85-carat (16.7 gram) diamond was found in 1871, sparking the Diamond Rush.+
Numerous geological expeditions were dispatched to Yakutia with only one goal: to find a kimberlite pipe of industrial importance.
In the autumn of 1948, a group of geologists led by G. Fanshtein began prospecting work on the Chona and Vilyuy rivers, and on August 7, 1949, they found the first diamond on a sandy spit called Sokolina, and further more than 20 crystals, and discovered a diamond placer here. As a result of exploration work in 1950-1953, several diamond placers were discovered in Yakutia.+
All this indicated that there are kimberlite pipes in Yakutia. And finally, several years of geological searches were crowned with success. On August 21 of the following 1954, geologist Larisa Popugaeva with worker Fyodor Belikov discovered the first kimberlite pipe in the USSR and called it Zarnitsa. But this deposit was not suitable for industrial purposes.+
On June 13, 1955, the geologists of the expedition, Yu.I. Khabardina and E.N. Elagina, who were looking for a kimberlite pipe in Yakutia, saw a tall larch, the roots of which were exposed by a landslide. The fox dug a deep hole under him. By the characteristic bluish color of the land scattered by the fox, geologists realized that it was kimberlite. Such is the legend.+
In fact, the search engines were guided by a forecast map compiled by geologists N.A. Amkinna and N.V. Kind. +
The famous radiogram, transmitted by them to the leadership of the expedition about the discovery of kimberlite, was encoded: “We lit the peace pipe, the tobacco is excellent. Avdeenko, Elagina, Khabardin. As usual, in those days, the secretary of the party organization was the first to sign the radiogram.
The diamond deposit has become a find of extreme importance. The “tobacco” in the pipe really turned out to be quite good: more than 80% of all diamonds mined in this mine weighed 5 carats each (1 gram). Potentially, the development of the diamond industry was supposed to double the economic potential of the Soviet Union.+
All this allowed Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev not only to loudly knock his shoes on the UN rostrum, but also to make a strategic statement that threw all the adversaries into a cold sweat Soviet Union: “It’s time for the aggressor-capitalists to show “Kuzkin’s mother”, soon our Motherland will take a leading position in the international currency market, having mastered new diamond deposits in Yakutia for the speedy creation of the material and technical base of communism in the USSR.”+
The Mir kimberlite pipe is the richest diamond deposit in the world
The beginning of the industrial development of diamonds dates back to 1957. It is clear that the deposit had to be developed in extremely difficult climatic conditions, and in order to break deep into the permafrost, the earth had to be blown up with dynamite.+
However, already in 1960, the annual production of diamonds was 2 kilograms, and a fifth of them were of gem quality.
Diamonds after the appropriate cutting turned into amazingly beautiful diamonds, which were used to create jewelry. +
Soviet citizens planning to get married could afford to buy exquisite wedding rings with diamonds, in which diamonds were mined in the Yakut kimberlite pipe Mir.+
The remaining 80% of mined diamonds have been used for industrial purposes, as on the Mohs scale of reference minerals, it is the hardest mineral in the world, with the highest thermal conductivity, dispersion and refraction.+
The largest quarry in terms of diamond production
Address: Russia, Yakutia, Mirny
Opened: 1955
Start of mining: 1957
Completion of open pit mining: 2001
Depth: 525 m
Diameter: 1.2 km
Owner: CJSC AK ALROSA (Almazy Rossiya-Sakha)+
As befits any miracle, there are legends about the Mir diamond quarry. They say that being at the bottom, a person feels dizzy, but when he rises up, he experiences euphoria. Resembling a bottomless abyss, the mine beckons, hypnotizes. Some people dream of jumping to the bottom of a quarry with a parachute.+
One can only marvel at the amount of effort put into developing the quarry. Take, for example, the problem of aggressive waters saturated with methane, hydrogen sulfide and oil, which arrive at a rate of 3,500 cubic meters per day. So after all, if a unique grouting screen had not been created, the quarry would inevitably have been flooded.+
Between 1957 and 2001, the Mir quarry produced $17 billion worth of diamonds. Over the years, the quarry has expanded so much that trucks had to travel 8 kilometers from the bottom to the surface on a spiral road.
The Russian company ALROSA, which owns the Mir quarry, stopped open-pit mining in 2001, as this method had become dangerous and inefficient.
Scientists have found that diamonds occur at a depth of more than 1 kilometer, and at such a depth it is not a quarry that is suitable for mining, but an underground mine, which produced one million tons of ore per year to its design capacity already in 2012. In total, the development of the field is planned for another 34 years.+
It is necessary to use the mothballed quarry in a prudent manner
If a spent quarry is left to the will of the elements, it will not only be useless, but over time it can become dangerous. High walls pose a threat of landslides, and one day the quarry may swallow the surrounding areas, including built-up areas.+
The idea of building a fully autonomous city in the abandoned Mir diamond quarry seems like the ultimate utopian dream, but the authors of this concept, employees of the Alice architectural bureau, cannot be called empty dreamers. The head of the bureau, Nikolai Lyutomsky, is an experienced architect who started at Mosproekt-1. The idea was suggested by a student of the Moscow Architectural Institute Elena Tsyrenova, a native of the city of Mirny. She suggested to her supervisor N. Lyutomsky the topic of the diploma: “Tourist hotel near the edge of the depleted Mir diamond quarry.”+
And although the cyclopean hole in the ground in the middle of permafrost really attracts the attention of tourists, the manager advised Elena to participate in the development of a real underground city together with the architects of AB Elis.+
Scientists are thinking about an eco-city project in a now empty huge pit
Due to the landslide hazard of the slopes of the existing quarry, according to the project, it will be necessary to cut the soil to form a pit in the form of an inverted truncated cone with a base diameter of about 250 m. ground water. Groundwater is found in the quarry in the depth range from 280−320 to 426−525 m from the surface. To avoid flooding the pit and underground structures, it will be necessary to build impervious curtains around the perimeter of the bottom of the pit in the form of a “wall in the ground.”+
The head of the Moscow architectural bureau, Nikolai Lutomsky, talks about his plans: “ main part project - a huge concrete structure, which will become a kind of "cork" for the former quarry and will burst it from the inside. The top of the pit will be covered with a translucent dome, on which solar panels will be installed. The climate in Yakutia is harsh, but there are many clear days and the batteries will be able to generate about 200 MW of electricity, which should more than meet the needs of the future city. In addition, you can use the heat of the Earth. +
In winter, the air in Mirny cools down to -60°C, but at a depth below 150 meters (that is, below permafrost), the ground temperature is above zero, which adds energy efficiency to the project.+
The space of the city is proposed to be divided into three tiers: the lower one is for growing agricultural products (the so-called vertical farm), the middle one is a forest park zone that purifies the air, and the upper one is for permanent residence of people, which has a residential function and serves to accommodate administrative and socio-cultural buildings and structures.
total area the city will be 3 million square meters, and up to 10,000 people can live here - tourists, service personnel and farm workers.
The Mir diamond quarry was included in the list of candidates for the Seven Wonders of Russia competition, organized with the participation of the Izvestia newspaper, the Rossiya TV channel and the Mayak radio station. He was not awarded the title of winner, but this does not detract from his importance in the history of Russia and his huge contribution to the achievements of our country.
Boris Skupov
In Yakutia, near the city of Mirny, there is the largest diamond quarry in the world in terms of total volume - the Mir kimberlite pipe (the city of Mirny appeared after the discovery of the pipe and was named after it). The quarry has a depth of 525 meters and a diameter of 1.2 kilometers.
The formation of a kimberlite pipe occurs during a volcanic eruption, when gases from the bowels of the earth break out through the earth's crust. The shape of such a tube resembles a funnel or glass. A volcanic explosion brings kimberlite out of the bowels of the Earth, a rock sometimes containing diamonds. The breed is named after the city of Kimberley in South Africa, where an 85-carat (16.7 gram) diamond was found in 1871, sparking the Diamond Rush.
On June 13, 1955, geologists who were looking for a kimberlite pipe in Yakutia saw a tall larch whose roots were exposed by a landslide. The fox dug a deep hole under him. By the characteristic bluish color of the land scattered by the fox, geologists realized that it was kimberlite. A coded radiogram was immediately sent to Moscow: "They lit the pipe of peace, the tobacco is excellent." Soon after 2800 km. off-road to the place of discovery of the kimberlite pipe, motorcades pulled. The working settlement of Mirny grew up around the diamond deposit, now it is a city with a population of 36 thousand people.
The development of the deposit took place in extremely difficult climatic conditions. To break through the permafrost, it had to be blown up with dynamite. In the 1960s, 2 kg were already produced here. diamonds per year, of which 20% were of gem quality and, after cutting and turning into diamonds, could go to a jewelry salon. The remaining 80% of diamonds were used for industrial purposes. The South African company De Beers, which was forced to buy up Soviet diamonds in order to control prices on the world market, was concerned about the rapid development of Mir. The management of "De Beers" agreed on the arrival of their delegation in Mirny. The Soviet leadership agreed to this on the condition that Soviet specialists visit diamond quarries in South Africa. The De Beers delegation arrived in Moscow in 1976 to fly to Mirny, but the South African guests were deliberately delayed by endless meetings and banquets in Moscow, so when the delegation finally reached Mirny, they had only 20 minutes to inspect the quarry. However, South African specialists were still amazed by what they saw, for example, by the fact that the Russians did not use water when processing ore. Although this is understandable: after all, 7 months a year in Mirny there is a minus temperature and therefore the use of water is simply impossible.
Between 1957 and 2001, the Mir quarry produced $17 billion worth of diamonds. Over the years, the quarry has expanded so much that trucks had to travel 8 km along a spiral road. from the bottom to the surface. In 2001, the Russian company ALROSA, which owns the Mir quarry, stopped open-cast ore mining, as this method has become dangerous and inefficient. Scientists have found that diamonds occur at a depth of more than 1 km, and at such a depth not a quarry is suitable for mining, but an underground mine, which, according to the plan, will reach its design capacity of one million tons of ore per year in 2012. In total, the development of the deposit is planned for another 34 years.
Helicopters are strictly forbidden to fly over the quarry, because a huge funnel sucks aircraft into itself. The high walls of the quarry are fraught with danger not only for helicopters: there is a threat of landslides, and one day the quarry may swallow the adjacent, including built-up, territories. Scientists are thinking about an eco-city project in a now empty huge pit. The head of the Moscow architectural bureau, Nikolai Lyutomsky, talks about his plans: “The main part of the project is a huge concrete structure that will become a kind of “cork” for the former quarry and will burst it from the inside. From above, the pit will be covered with a translucent dome, on which solar panels will be installed. Climate in Yakutia it is harsh, but there are many clear days and the batteries will be able to generate about 200 MW of electricity, which should more than satisfy the needs of the future city. 150 meters (that is, below the permafrost), the ground temperature is above zero, which adds energy efficiency to the project.The space of the city is proposed to be divided into three tiers: the lower one is for growing agricultural products (the so-called vertical farm), the middle one is a forest park zone that purifies the air, and the upper one is for permanent residence of people, having a residential function and serving to accommodate hell ministerial and socio-cultural buildings and structures. The total area of the city will be 3 million square meters, and up to 10,000 people can live here - tourists, service personnel and farm workers."
