Mining for the most beautiful jewels.

We have become accustomed to seeing diamonds in our jewellery from necklaces and earrings to diamond rings these beautiful jewels adorn some of the most luxurious jewellery items ever made.  Purchasing an item o f diamond jewellery can seem like a daunting task especially if you don’t know where to look. But did you know that diamonds come from the same place as coal and other ore materials that are used in a variety of everyday items including Concrete Cheltenham way that provides us with smooth ground surfaces. That’s right. Mines!

Here are three of the largest diamond mines throughout the world:

• Jubilee Mine – is located in Sakha in the Republic of Russia. Russia is actually home to over half of the worlds diamond mines. The mine itself is estimated to hold more than 153 million carats of diamonds that can be recovered. It is an open-pit mine and I mined by part of the divisions of Russia’s own diamond company Alrosa. The mine opened in 1986 and extracts diamond from a kimberlite pipe (area of volcanic activity in the past that saw diamond ore rise to nearer the surface) known as Yubileynaya. It currently reaches depths of 320 metres and in 2012 alone it produced 10.2 million tonnes of diamond ore.

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• Udachny Mine – another mine located in the same region of Russia as the Jubilee Mine. It is the second largest mine and it is though that in 2013 the diamond reserves in the mine were above 152 million carats. Again, the mine is owned by Alrosa but this time they mine from the Udachnaya kimberlite pipe. This pipe was discovered in 1955 and is the largest deposit of diamond ore to be found in Russia. It is boasted as one of the deepest open-pit mines in the world, however mining in an open-pit manner as ceased at this site with underground mining still continuing.

• Argyle mine – Skipping down the list a little finds the first non-Russian mine. This mine is located in Western Australia and would be at the top spot if you were calculating the mines based solely on the joint ore reserves. It is thought that 140 million carats of diamonds are located in the mines which is 67 millions tonnes of diamonds. The mine has been opened since 1986 and is owned by Rio Tinto and in recent years has moved from an open-pit mining system to underground access to deeper diamonds. The Argyle mine is predicted to produce up to 20 million carats of diamonds a year which will see it rise to top spot of largest diamond producing mine worldwide.

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