1494
Diamond subsoil
855248
Flying over the Mirny, I saw from the window only part of a huge funnel. I can't even imagine how cool it looks when you look at it from the side!
Satellite image
The city of Mirny can only be reached by plane. Of course, if you wish, you can try to overcome the Yakut taiga and forest tundra, but this is practically not real, it will take more than one year of life before such an expedition ends.
In early September, the Diamond Week of Yakutia began in Yakutia, and I fly to the city of Mirny as part of a large group of journalists. Under us swims already yellowed forest tundra, sometimes sparkling water surface of lakes and rivers. An hour and a half, probably no more - and we are in Mirny. The airport is met with strong winds and several buses. Someone goes on a tour of the city, someone is taken to a diamond fund, me and five other lucky people get the dirtiest job - a tour of the mine.
Honestly, I do not care about diamonds, but it is expensive to go down to the mine at 500-700 meters and see how it all happens in life! It is not completely clear how we were allowed there at all, there are no excursions to such places, there are too many risks and dangers, but if someone comes up with such a show to arrange, I am sure, there will be no rest in those who wish. We were told that a couple of times foreigners were lowered into the mine, those, seeing the kimberlite pipe, lost all composure and rushed into the mud to look for diamonds.
As is usually the case in this industry, it all starts with safety. And these are not empty words. A day after we went down to the mine, locals told me in the city of Yakutsk that a miner had died in a nearby mine.
We're shown a mine diagram. A little clarification: we went down to the mines of the International. All other mines are now developed on the same principle, if open-pit mining has already ceased.
After the briefing, we're going to change. We are given special thermal underwear and clean hash, on our feet - thick socks and rubber boots. The headdress is classic - a helmet. Each was given a lantern and a special tube containing a breathing device. This is in case there is a blockage in the mine and you have to sunbathe there.
As we walk down the hall, we read the inscriptions. Maybe they can help you focus on work and get home. Work in the mine is dangerous, primarily because of the gas, and if you miss its appearance, there will be a big trouble. We have a few escorts coming with us.
The mine can be accessed through the street or through special corridors, this is due to the low temperatures in winter. The corridor and even the mine itself, where people work, are heated.
131796
The mine can only be reached by elevator. Recently, the elevator was repaired, we can say it is just finished running. That's a joke, guys. Everything around is so unusual that it is not even scary. But if someone suffers from claustrophobia, it is better not to go into the mine.
By the way, the elevator is double-decker and I somehow associate it with red double-decker buses in London.
The elevator is designed for a shift, and there are clearly fewer of us, and we settle freely along the walls. The doors close, the elevator twitches and begins to sink... Terrible!
This is the inner wall of the shaft on which we descend:
Suddenly, the wall disappears and we see a lighted space. This is another “floor”, but we are even further away. Terrible!
Here's our mark. As far as I understand, we are below 500 meters, but not at the bottom. There, apparently, only preparatory work is underway before the machines reach the kimberlite tube. In general, information falls out incredibly much, it happens in a very short time, and even incredible impressions, from what he saw. It's very hard not to lose your head. By the way, the pressure down there changed, I personally felt it, and at the end of our journey I wasn't quite well.
Let's stop. We will not be released until all procedures are followed. Ahead hangs a sign, it indicates a depth of 550 meters. We swung half a mile down! This is my deepest dive in life!
First impressions are warm, light and dry, and they are very different from the picture, but we will see what happens next. Hope to see at least a glimpse of diamonds does not leave me.
We meet a new shift on the way. We look at them with a bit of curiosity and wonder, and they look at us like little green men -- it's not often that journalists come down here.
Our mode of movement in the mine was very much like a military operation. It's clear and fast!
Behind this door, the shaft begins. Of course, we are already in the mine, and there is a way to the kimberlite tube. By the way, on our way we meet more than one such door, and they just do not open, sometimes you need to call the dispatcher to let us through. Needless to say, there is no cellular connection and only wired phones work.
Meanwhile, a party of guys loaded into the same double-decker bus and dived down...
We begin the journey. It comes to mind that the best place to shoot all sorts of fantastic films and horror films is difficult to find.
We go through a huge room, it's like a repair shop. These things on the floor are "drill nozzles", they "eat" the body of a kimberlite tube.
But this dump truck rakes diamond-bearing ore ... That's a lot! I’ve never seen anything like this in my life! By the way, all the equipment used in the mine is designed to work in such conditions, a conventional machine can not be used here, since there is no special protection. There is always a chance that gas will appear, and the slightest spark can lead to an explosion.
After the repair shop, an ordinary Russian road opens to our eyes. Going to the tube on foot is far and not very convenient, especially on such slime, albeit rubber boots.
And we're invited to a special taxi. Very rigid taxi, without any leather seats and soft suspensions.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the ore that diamonds should be in. All I had to say was that everyone rushed to the placer and let’s dig into it. They would not have noticed and passed by. I remember a story about foreigners, apparently, the guys did not joke, telling how they searched for diamonds in the mud.
So we get to the rig, and there's a diamond tube behind it.
Squeezing into a narrow gap. A slightly wet wall appears in front of me - that is the purpose of our journey. I touched the wall, it is cold and sticky with dirt (clay). It doesn’t feel like there are diamonds. There's nothing!
This tool bites into the tube, crushing the stone into small fragments. Then the rubble is exported and diamonds will be extracted at another enterprise.
The short tour to the tube ends. There are five minutes to walk through different tunnels. Time for a cab.
On the way we meet one of the cars that transport ore.
The pipe upstairs is ventilation. But despite this, there is a smell in the mine. Or let’s say the air is not very fresh.
After the taxi, there was a short walk to the mine doors. There are new rails on the floor. They are brought down by the same elevator and then manually build the railway. There are many things to do manually in the mine.
And as a postscript... In 1980, the largest diamond (in the USSR) was found here, weighing 342.5 carats (68 grams). In terms of statistics, the mine has produced $17 billion worth of diamonds.
Flying over the Mirny, I saw from the window only part of a huge funnel. I can't even imagine how cool it looks when you look at it from the side!
Satellite image
The city of Mirny can only be reached by plane. Of course, if you wish, you can try to overcome the Yakut taiga and forest tundra, but this is practically not real, it will take more than one year of life before such an expedition ends.
In early September, the Diamond Week of Yakutia began in Yakutia, and I fly to the city of Mirny as part of a large group of journalists. Under us swims already yellowed forest tundra, sometimes sparkling water surface of lakes and rivers. An hour and a half, probably no more - and we are in Mirny. The airport is met with strong winds and several buses. Someone goes on a tour of the city, someone is taken to a diamond fund, me and five other lucky people get the dirtiest job - a tour of the mine.
Honestly, I do not care about diamonds, but it is expensive to go down to the mine at 500-700 meters and see how it all happens in life! It is not completely clear how we were allowed there at all, there are no excursions to such places, there are too many risks and dangers, but if someone comes up with such a show to arrange, I am sure, there will be no rest in those who wish. We were told that a couple of times foreigners were lowered into the mine, those, seeing the kimberlite pipe, lost all composure and rushed into the mud to look for diamonds.
As is usually the case in this industry, it all starts with safety. And these are not empty words. A day after we went down to the mine, locals told me in the city of Yakutsk that a miner had died in a nearby mine.
We're shown a mine diagram. A little clarification: we went down to the mines of the International. All other mines are now developed on the same principle, if open-pit mining has already ceased.
After the briefing, we're going to change. We are given special thermal underwear and clean hash, on our feet - thick socks and rubber boots. The headdress is classic - a helmet. Each was given a lantern and a special tube containing a breathing device. This is in case there is a blockage in the mine and you have to sunbathe there.
As we walk down the hall, we read the inscriptions. Maybe they can help you focus on work and get home. Work in the mine is dangerous, primarily because of the gas, and if you miss its appearance, there will be a big trouble. We have a few escorts coming with us.
The mine can be accessed through the street or through special corridors, this is due to the low temperatures in winter. The corridor and even the mine itself, where people work, are heated.
131796
The mine can only be reached by elevator. Recently, the elevator was repaired, we can say it is just finished running. That's a joke, guys. Everything around is so unusual that it is not even scary. But if someone suffers from claustrophobia, it is better not to go into the mine.
By the way, the elevator is double-decker and I somehow associate it with red double-decker buses in London.
The elevator is designed for a shift, and there are clearly fewer of us, and we settle freely along the walls. The doors close, the elevator twitches and begins to sink... Terrible!
This is the inner wall of the shaft on which we descend:
Suddenly, the wall disappears and we see a lighted space. This is another “floor”, but we are even further away. Terrible!
Here's our mark. As far as I understand, we are below 500 meters, but not at the bottom. There, apparently, only preparatory work is underway before the machines reach the kimberlite tube. In general, information falls out incredibly much, it happens in a very short time, and even incredible impressions, from what he saw. It's very hard not to lose your head. By the way, the pressure down there changed, I personally felt it, and at the end of our journey I wasn't quite well.
Let's stop. We will not be released until all procedures are followed. Ahead hangs a sign, it indicates a depth of 550 meters. We swung half a mile down! This is my deepest dive in life!
First impressions are warm, light and dry, and they are very different from the picture, but we will see what happens next. Hope to see at least a glimpse of diamonds does not leave me.
We meet a new shift on the way. We look at them with a bit of curiosity and wonder, and they look at us like little green men -- it's not often that journalists come down here.
Our mode of movement in the mine was very much like a military operation. It's clear and fast!
Behind this door, the shaft begins. Of course, we are already in the mine, and there is a way to the kimberlite tube. By the way, on our way we meet more than one such door, and they just do not open, sometimes you need to call the dispatcher to let us through. Needless to say, there is no cellular connection and only wired phones work.
Meanwhile, a party of guys loaded into the same double-decker bus and dived down...
We begin the journey. It comes to mind that the best place to shoot all sorts of fantastic films and horror films is difficult to find.
We go through a huge room, it's like a repair shop. These things on the floor are "drill nozzles", they "eat" the body of a kimberlite tube.
But this dump truck rakes diamond-bearing ore ... That's a lot! I’ve never seen anything like this in my life! By the way, all the equipment used in the mine is designed to work in such conditions, a conventional machine can not be used here, since there is no special protection. There is always a chance that gas will appear, and the slightest spark can lead to an explosion.
After the repair shop, an ordinary Russian road opens to our eyes. Going to the tube on foot is far and not very convenient, especially on such slime, albeit rubber boots.
And we're invited to a special taxi. Very rigid taxi, without any leather seats and soft suspensions.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the ore that diamonds should be in. All I had to say was that everyone rushed to the placer and let’s dig into it. They would not have noticed and passed by. I remember a story about foreigners, apparently, the guys did not joke, telling how they searched for diamonds in the mud.
So we get to the rig, and there's a diamond tube behind it.
Squeezing into a narrow gap. A slightly wet wall appears in front of me - that is the purpose of our journey. I touched the wall, it is cold and sticky with dirt (clay). It doesn’t feel like there are diamonds. There's nothing!
This tool bites into the tube, crushing the stone into small fragments. Then the rubble is exported and diamonds will be extracted at another enterprise.
The short tour to the tube ends. There are five minutes to walk through different tunnels. Time for a cab.
On the way we meet one of the cars that transport ore.
The pipe upstairs is ventilation. But despite this, there is a smell in the mine. Or let’s say the air is not very fresh.
After the taxi, there was a short walk to the mine doors. There are new rails on the floor. They are brought down by the same elevator and then manually build the railway. There are many things to do manually in the mine.
And as a postscript... In 1980, the largest diamond (in the USSR) was found here, weighing 342.5 carats (68 grams). In terms of statistics, the mine has produced $17 billion worth of diamonds.
