City of Mirny (Yakutia): diamond quarry. History, description, photo

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

In Soviet times, a sufficient number of cities were built on the territory of our country, many of which are real unique in their geographical location and engineering solutions used. Such is the city of Mirny (Yakutia). The diamond quarry, which is located within its boundaries, is one of the wonders of the modern world, as it impresses even worldly-wise specialists with its size.

Peace Pipe

By the way, scientifically this quarry is a "kimberlite pipe" called "Mir". The city itself appeared after her discovery and the start of development, and therefore was named after her. The quarry has an unrealistic depth of 525 meters and a diameter of almost 1.3 km! The kimberlite pipe itself was formed in ancient times, when flows of lava and hot volcanic gases burst out of the bowels of our planet at great speed. On the cut, it resembles a glass or a cone. Thanks to the enormous force of the explosion, kimberlite was thrown out of the bowels of the Earth - this is the name of the rock containingnatural diamonds.

The name of this substance comes from the name of the South African city of Kimberley. There, in 1871, a diamond weighing almost 17 grams was discovered, as a result of which prospectors and adventurers from all over the world poured into that area in an unstoppable stream. How did our city of Mirny (Yakutia) come about? The quarry is the basis of its appearance.

How the deposit was discovered

In the middle of June 1955, Soviet geologists in Yakutia were looking for traces of kimberlite and came across a fallen larch whose roots had been uprooted from the ground by a powerful hurricane. The fox took advantage of this natural "preparation" by digging a hole there. It served us well: by the color of the earth, the experts realized that there was an excellent kimberlite under the fox hole.

An encoded radiogram was immediately sent to Moscow: “We lit the pipe of peace, excellent tobacco”! Just a few days later, huge columns of construction equipment were pulled into the wilderness. This is how the city of Mirny (Yakutia) arose. The quarry had to be developed in extremely difficult conditions. One has only to look at the pit covered with snow to understand the grand scale of the work carried out here!

Delegation from South Africa

To break through several meters of permafrost, tens of thousands of tons of powerful explosives had to be used. Since the 60s of the last century, the deposit began to consistently produce two kilograms of diamonds, and at least 1/5 of them were of excellent quality and could be sent to jewelry stores aftercutting. The remaining stones were intensively used in Soviet industry.

The field developed so rapidly that the South African company De Beers was simply forced to buy up Soviet diamonds in droves in order to prevent a global decline in prices for them. The leadership of this organization applied for a visit to the city of Mirny (Yakutia). The quarry amazed them, but they didn’t stay there for long…

Industrial tricks

The government of the USSR agreed, but demanded a reciprocal favor - that Soviet specialists be allowed into the fields in South Africa. A delegation from Africa arrived in Moscow … and was greatly delayed there, because banquets were constantly arranged for the guests. When the specialists finally arrived in the city of Mirny, they had no more than 20 minutes to inspect the quarry.

But what they saw still struck them to the core. For example, the guests simply could not imagine the technology of diamond mining without the use of water. However, there is nothing surprising in the Yakut climatic conditions for this: in those places, the temperature is below zero for almost seven months a year, and you should not joke with permafrost. The city of Mirny stands in a dangerous place! The depth of the quarry is such that, if desired, even a miniature sea can be arranged here.

A brief history of mining

From 1957 to 2001, more than $17 billion worth of diamonds were mined here. The quarry near the city of Mirny in Siberia expanded so much during development thatfrom the bottom to the surface, the length of the road for trucks was eight kilometers. It should be understood that in 2001 the deposit was not depleted at all: it was just that open-pit diamond mining became too dangerous. Scientists were able to find out that the vein stretches to a depth of more than a kilometer, and in these conditions an underground mine is already needed. By the way, it reached its design capacity of one million tons of ore already in 2012. Today, experts believe that this unique field can be developed for another 35 years (approximately).

Some terrain issues

Helicopters are strictly forbidden to fly over the quarry, since such a flight is certain death for the machine and crew. The laws of physics just throw the helicopter to the bottom of the quarry. The high walls of the tube also have their drawbacks: there is a far from illusive possibility that one day precipitation and erosion will lead to the formation of a monstrous landslide that will completely swallow the city of Mirny (Yakutia). The quarry, the photo of which is in the article, can also be used for purposes that some may consider real fiction. We are talking about the possibility of creating a unique city of the future in a titanic pit.

"City of the Future": dreams or reality?

Nikolay Lutomsky was appointed the head of this project. The most difficult thing in the upcoming work is to create a cyclopean concrete structure that will not only strengthen the walls of the quarry, but will also burst it, providing additional strength. It will be an incredible tourist attraction that only the city of Mirny can boast of!

The quarry, the photo of which can be seen in the review, is supposed to be closed from above with a transparent dome, on the sides of which solar panels will be mounted. Of course, the climate in Yakutia is extremely harsh, but there are enough sunny days. Power engineers assume that batteries alone will be able to generate at least 200 MW of energy per year. Finally, it will be possible to take advantage of the warmth of the planet itself.

The fact is that in winter this area cools down to -60 degrees Celsius. Yes, it is difficult to envy those for whom the city of Mirny (Yakutia) is their homeland. The quarry, whose photo is amazing, is frozen in the same way, but only to a depth of 150 meters. Below - constantly positive temperature. The futuristic city is supposed to be divided into three main tiers at once. At the lowest level they want to grow agricultural products, on the middle one it is planned to mark out a full-fledged forest park zone.

The upper part is a zone for permanent residence of people, in addition to residential premises there will be offices, entertainment complexes and so on. If the construction plan is fully implemented, the area of the city will be three million "squares". Up to 10 thousand people can live here at the same time. Peaceful city (Yakutia) has about 36 thousand citizens. The quarry, which is half a kilometer deep, will allow them to rest comfortably without flying to distant lands.

Other information on the Ecocity project

Initially, this project was given the name Ecocity2020”, but today it is clear that it will obviously not be possible to implement it by the scheduled date. By the way, why are they going to build it at all? It's about the residents: only five months a year their living conditions more or less correspond to a comfortable norm, and the rest of the time they live at temperatures that are more typical for the Arctic and Antarctica. The city will allow them to relax at any time of the year, basking in the sun, and you should not forget about the production capacity of giant farms: all residents and tourists will be more than provided with vitamin fruits and vegetables.

In order for the lower levels to receive enough light, a giant-diameter lighting shaft is supposed to be left in the center. In addition to solar panels, the effectiveness of which is still rather doubtful (plus installation difficulties), some engineers offer the option of building a nuclear power plant. To date, all this is in the stage of very vague plans. I really hope that the city of Mirny, whose diamond quarry is known all over the world, will become more comfortable for people to live in.

Interesting facts about diamond mining

As we said, in the 60s, up to two kilograms of diamonds were mined here a year, and a fifth of them were of high gem quality. There were up to a gram of pure raw materials per ton of rock, and among the stones there were many that were suitable for jewelry processing. Today, there are approximately 0.4 g of diamonds per ton of ore.

The largest diamond

At the end of December 1980, the largest diamond ever found herethe history of the deposit. This giant, weighing 68 grams, received the solemn name "XXVI Congress of the CPSU".

When was open pit mining stopped?

When was Mirny "finished off"? The diamond quarry became dangerous to develop in the 1990s, when the working depth reached 525 meters. At the same time, the bottom of the pit was flooded. It was Mir that became the largest diamond quarry in our country. Mining lasted more than 44 years. Until that time, the production was managed by the Sakha company, whose annual profit exceeded $600 million. Today the mine is run by Alrosa. This corporation is one of the largest diamond producers in the world.

When did the idea of the abandoned mine come about?

Already in the 1970s, the construction of the first tunnels began, as everyone understood the impossibility of continuous open-pit mining. But this method was transferred to a permanent basis only in 1999. To date, it is known for sure that there is still a vein at a depth of 1200 meters. It is possible that diamonds will be mined even deeper.

Here is what kind of raw materials the Republic of Yakutia is rich in: the city of Mirny, the quarry in which staggers the imagination of everyone, is one of the sources of national prosperity. The diamonds that are mined there are used not only for the needs of jewelry companies, but also for the production of many complex devices and mechanisms.