A Massive Diamond Mine in Siberia: Enough to Supply Humanity for Another 3,000 Years.
The Soviet Union Kept the Mine Secret
The Taiga forest region in Siberia, Russia, has long been renowned for its vast diamond mines, including the mine located at the Popigai impact crater, which contains trillions of carats of diamonds and has the capacity to extract 1,800 kg of ore each year. The existence of this mine was kept a secret for decades, hidden deep within the cold of the Taiga forest, with its immense reserves potentially capable of sparking “an industrial revolution” worldwide.
Aerial view of the Popigai diamond mine. (Photo: NATGEO)
The Popigai deposits were actually discovered in the early 1970s in a remote area of eastern Siberia, 400 km from the nearest town of Khantiga and 2,000 km north of the regional capital, Krasnoyarsk. During the Cold War, this site was immediately recognized as a source of strategic wealth for the Soviet Union, and its existence was kept entirely secret.
According to Nikolai Pokhilenko, the director of the Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy in Novosibirsk, this mine is located within a crater that spans hundreds of kilometers in diameter, formed after an asteroid impacted Earth 35 million years ago.
The high temperatures and immense pressures from the impact instantly transformed graphite in the Siberian earth into small diamonds within a radius of up to 10 km from the impact point. These “industrial” diamonds typically range in size from 0.5 to 2 mm in diameter and come in shades of gray, blue, or yellow.
High-quality Russian diamonds. (Photo: 13 Heures / France 2)
Experts from the institute state that the carat reserves of diamonds at the Popigai mine are 110 times greater than the world’s diamond reserves and have double the durability compared to industrial diamonds. However, Pokhilenko noted that the Soviet Union at the time prioritized the construction of synthetic diamond factories to keep the mine’s location a secret.
In the chaos of economic and ideological upheaval following the dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, news of the mine’s existence went largely unnoticed. This is the primary reason why the Popigai mine was abandoned and forgotten for nearly 30 years until it was rediscovered by the Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy.
Reserves Equivalent to 3,000 Years of Supply
Deposits found at Popigai mine. (Photo: sciencemall-usa.com).
The director of the Sobolev Institute emphasized that although only 0.3% of the Popigai area has been mined so far, the diamond quantity there has reached 147 billion carats. In contrast, the estimated global diamond reserves are around 5 billion carats. The scientist further stated, “With the current rate of industrial diamond usage, the reserves of Popigai correspond to 3,000 years of supply,” which could lead to “an industrial revolution worldwide,” especially in the manufacturing of airplanes and automobiles.
Guennadi Nikitine, Deputy Director of Yakoutnipromalmaz, a diamond specialty company in Yakutia (Eastern Siberia), expressed concern: “The Popigai crater could disrupt the diamond market. It’s impossible to predict how prices will change.” However, experts believe that exploring the Popigai reserves could be prohibitively expensive, as the mine is located in a permafrost region, far from any roads or railways.
A polished diamond. (Photo: Sajjad Hussain / AFP)
Nikolai Tutchkov, an expert at the Sobolev Institute, commented: “This diamond mine is very isolated, located nearly 200 km from the Arctic coast and over 400 km from the nearest town. However, exploration of the Popigai mine could be combined with the extraction of other nearby mineral deposits, which would help reduce costs.”
Indeed, a large workforce of about 800 people has been mobilized to mine the site day and night, with high wages in Russia, reaching up to 2,000 euros per month. However, they work in shifts and get 15 days off due to the extreme cold, and mining is not easy. They must work in howling winds at temperatures of -25°C. One worker stated, “We have to take breaks of 15 to 20 minutes every hour to warm up because it’s so cold here.”
The kimberlite stones found deep within the mines are crushed and sorted. The diamonds are then refined according to a secret formula and meticulously graded. The finest stones are polished in Moscow.
