[ad_1]
This well is located in eastern Siberia, in the distant city of Mirno. Around 40 thousand people live in the city. people and, in principle, almost all work directly or indirectly for a single company, Alrosa.
He is one of the largest diamond miners in the world and the impressive size of the well in this city is of constant interest.
In the 1960s, Soviet geologists discovered that these areas of Yakutia were rich in diamonds.
Mining work began in 1955, and now the well is 525 meters deep and 1,200 meters wide. It is the fourth largest hole in the world.
Although open pit mining was discontinued in 2001, diamond mining has moved to deep mines. Powerful trucks nearly 6 meters high descended on a spiral path to the bottom of the well.
Discovery of myrtle layers
Due to the bad economic situation, the discovery of layers of diamonds was of particular importance for the then Soviet Union. Then, the team of this expedition, the geologists Yuri Chabardin, Ekaterina Elagina and Viktor Avdeenka, received the Lenin Prize.
Admittedly, it is noted that geologists were lucky and accidentally discovered the only Kimberlite deposit in Russia at the time.
Kimberlite is an alkaline volcanic rock. The name comes from the Kimberley City PAR, which Professor H. C. Lewis mentioned in an article in 1887. Kimberlite is a heterogeneous rock, its structure varies from multiple grain to porphyry, the texture is crumbly, gap.
Kimberlite is made up of small bodies in the Earth’s crust called Kimberlite tubes, pipes, blast tubes, diatremes. These structures are up to one kilometer in diameter. There are also other forms of kimberlite deposition: things, silos.
Kimberlytic tubes are a medium for the formation of diamonds and these deposits are very rare in the world.
So, the discovery of the kimberlite deposit meant that there were diamonds here. And such a discovery became great news for the Soviet Union. Especially after many failed reconnaissance expeditions in 1940-1950.
The Soviet leadership was very satisfied with the first Kimberlit camp discovered in 1954, and in 1957 the expedition team received the highest award from the then Soviet Union: the Lenin Prize.
Brutally difficult working conditions
Such a discovery in the USSR was like a breath of fresh air. The USSR was severely affected after World War II and its economy was practically in ruins.
The reckless actions of the then USSR leadership, based on repression (deportation of people) and erroneous planned economy programs, did not contribute to a better economy either.
Therefore, the discovery of diamonds became an invaluable source of income and its mining began in 1957.
However, keep in mind that it was a bleak year in 1957, the USSR deteriorated, and working conditions were not easy, to put it mildly.
Here, winter lasts for about 7 months and the temperature often drops below -40 degrees Celsius. As a result of such weather conditions, vehicle tires and steel often become too brittle, and even used oil freezes.
This severely hampered mining work, so engineers often used dynamite and jet engines to melt permafrost.
The work was particularly hard and at night it was even necessary to cover the entire well so that the machinery did not freeze.
During the short summer months, the situation was not particularly good. Although it was not necessary to suffer extremely severe cold, in the past hard rocks turned into soft clay, after which it was neither pleasant nor easy to stick to.
As a result, many of the buildings on the job site had to be erected on stilts so that they simply were not hit by the ground. And not figuratively here.
Well, any excavation plant had to be built on solid ground and the closest suitable location was 20 km from the mine.
Despite all these challenges, the mine was operational and soon became profitable.
In the 1960s, this mine produced 10 million tons a year. carat (2,000 kg) of diamonds, of which about 20 percent. They were quality gemstones.
The upper layers of the mine (to a depth of about 340 meters) were the best and had an extremely high amount of diamonds. A ton of mined ore was approximately 4 carats (0.8 gr.) Of diamonds.
AFP / Scanpix Photo / Ordered diamonds found at the Mirno mine
The deeper layers were slightly less “fertile” but still produced about 2 carats (0.4 gr.) Of diamonds for a local ton of ore, and annual output fell to 2 million. carats
Some of the diamonds mined at the Mirno mine were true record holders. In the late 1980s, a 342.57-carat diamond weighing 68,514 grams was mined.
It remains the largest in Russia (and on the territory of the USSR) and one of the largest diamonds ever mined in the world. It is currently held at the Russian Diamond Fund in Moscow.
It is estimated that so many diamonds have been mined at the Mirno mine that its market value should be around $ 15 billion. euros
De Beers was very interested in the Mirno mine
For the then De Beers company, the wholesale diamond monopoly, the events at the Mirno mine caused concern and interest. De Beers was a global distributor of diamonds, and the market price of the gemstones depended heavily on the diamonds produced at the mine.
De Beers can be said to have created the continuing madness for diamonds with almost one hand.
In 1947, the company created the legendary slogan “Diamonds are forever”. It is widely recognized as one of the best advertising slogans of the 20th century.
Through a successful marketing strategy, De Beers has also successfully introduced diamonds as a symbol of love and devotion.
De Beers needed Russian diamonds for many years to control the world diamond market and prices. And, as you can predict, De Beers wanted to know what was going on at the Mirno mine.
In the 1970s, the company wanted to take a closer look at the Mirno mine and the mining work that goes on there. De Beers CEO Sir Philip Oppenheimer and Chief Geologist Barry Hawthorne applied for permission to visit the Mirno mine, and to their surprise received visas in 1976.
But things did not go according to the men’s plan. Upon arrival in Moscow, the men encountered the usual Soviet practice. In an attempt to “blindfold” the men were constantly invited to attend various fancy parties and interact with experts from the Soviet industry and travel through various useless meetings.
By the time they finally reached the Mirno mine, the men’s visas had practically expired. So they only had 20 minutes to look around the Mirno mine.
However, even in such a short time, they were able to gather a wealth of interesting information. One thing surprised them a lot. It turns out that the Russians did not use water to extract diamonds from the ore. Due to the weather conditions and the fact that any water would freeze very quickly, dry commutation techniques were used.
The Mirno mine was the first and largest diamond mine in the Soviet Union. Open pit mining work here has lasted more than 40 years and was finally suspended in 2001.
It was expected that open pit mining work would eventually be moved underground (mines), so a program for the construction of an underground tunnel began as early as the 1970s.
AFP / Scanpix photo / Underground work in Mirno mining tunnels
It was completed and since 1999 only underground mining has been carried out.
At the same time, the upper part of the mine had to stabilize as it had been abandoned after the cessation of open-pit mining.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, mining operations were taken over by the Sacha Diamond Company. For them, this activity turned out to be very profitable and, in general, the annual profit from diamond sales only exceeded 600 million. USD (530 million euros).
The mining operations were then taken over by Alrosa, Russia’s largest diamond processor. Therefore, underground mining resumed in 2009 and mining of high quality diamonds and diamonds suitable for industrial use is expected to continue for another 50 years or more.
Reuters / Scanpix photo / Alrosa’s headquarters in Mirne is not much different in appearance from the production facilities of an ordinary collective farm
The Mirno mine includes helicopters. Are you sure
There are many rumors that a large Mirno well could attack helicopters if they fall too close to it.
Although no accidents of this nature have been reported, this does not mean that they cannot occur. The airspace over the Mirno well is strictly limited.
It is believed that an air vortex could form in this well, preventing the aircraft from taking off and falling into the Mirno well.
This theory is discussed in more detail on Fletcher DeLancey’s blog:
“If the well is deep enough, and a half-kilometer deep well meets this condition, the earth will heat the air in it. The deeper the well, the warmer the air in it.
The hot air rises to the top and the cold air falls. Therefore, in the presence of large air temperature differences between and in the well, rapid air circulation occurs.
Then two things happen. First, the hot air leaving the well is less dense, so it provides less lift for the helicopter’s rotors than cooler air.
Second, when you fly quickly over the Mirno well – a very large temperature change suddenly hits the pilot, the plane loses altitude, and the pilot has to instantly adjust flight speed to compensate for the lost elevation.
Finally, the mixture of warm and cold air also creates additional wind currents. “
Although plane crashes have yet to take place at the Mirno mine, there have certainly been deaths there. In 2017, the mine was briefly closed after water flooded underground wells. The flood was so severe that the rescue operation had to be stopped for a time.
Scanpix / AP Photo / 2017 Rescue operation for imprisoned workers in the flooded Mirno diamond mine
About 100 workers were trapped in the mines. Fortunately, most of them were saved. Unfortunately, this incident claimed the lives of 8 people.
The future of the Mirno mine.
Innovative architecture company AB Ellis Limited announced a futuristic plan in 2010. To build a gigantic city with a dome at the Mirno mine and call it Eco-city 2020.
This Eco-city 2020 could have many gardens protected from harsh weather conditions.
The new city would attract tourists and residents to eastern Siberia and could house more than 100,000 people. The city would be divided into 3 main levels, which include the vertical part of the farm, the forests, the residential and recreational areas.
The dome would be covered with photovoltaic solar cells that would supply energy to the entire city. Also, sunlight would target the lower levels of the city, and the trees and other plants that grow in the city would provide oxygen.
The residents themselves would be located on the upper level, where the temperature would remain constantly warm, in contrast to the outdoors.
Let’s face it, such ideas sound like a kind of futuristic movie. And the proposals have not progressed so far, as on the drawing board.
Still, the idea is interesting. After all, diamond mining will not last forever and perhaps in the future this huge Mirno well will either become a city or be completely abandoned.
[ad_2]
