How are diamonds mined? Kimberlite pipes. (20 photos). Description and features of the kimberlite pipe

First kimberlite pipe opened in 1866. It was developed manually until 1914. The mine is recognized as the largest in the world, excavated without the use of technology. You can see a large crater in the ground in the Kimberley province. The first pipe was named after her.

Later, similar ones were discovered outside of South Africa and even Africa. In Russia, for example, there is a region that has several large pipes. We're talking about Yakutia. In the middle of the last century, first Zarnitsa was opened there, then Mir, and then Udachny, Sytykansky, Marsruitnaya.

All, as befits kimberlite pipes, are similar in shape to glasses, with their legs extending vertically into the ground. The formations are composed of hard rock - kimberlite. Why waste energy and money on excavating one?

The purpose of developing kimberlite pipes

Kimberlite is an ultrabasic rock, which means it contains 30-45% silica, that is, silicon oxide with the formula SiO 2. The mineral composition of the rock is olivine, pyroxene, phlogipite, pyrope. The first makes up the bulk of kimberlite. However, the rock is valued for its mineral, which averages about 0.6 grams per ton, that is, 3 carats. We are talking, as is clear, about a diamond.

Kimberlite pipes account for 90% of the world's diamond reserves. They are made of carbon. The same element is used to make, for example, graphite, which is used in pencils. The only difference is in the crystal lattices of the minerals. In diamond, the carbon atoms are arranged not only in a special way, but also as densely as possible. Therefore, diamonds are harder than other minerals and scratch and cut metals.

First kimberlite pipe began to be developed when the world's diamond reserves became depleted. They, like nuggets of gold, could be found underfoot. The African placers were especially rich.

Having selected diamonds near the surface, the miners realized that they needed to go deeper. It turned out that the crystals lie within tube-shaped bodies that go to a depth of 1.5 kilometers. When the appropriate technology appeared, after the quarry mining method, underground mines began to be made.

On kimberlite pipe World in, for example, this has been in effect since 2001. The miners reached the stem of the “glass”, going deeper than 500 meters.

Kimberlite pipe in Yakutia is the largest in the world. At the surface, the diameter of the glass is equal to a kilometer. The formation goes almost 1.5 deep. There are almost 5 carats per ton of ore.

It is worth noting that 90% of pipes do not contain diamonds. However, 10% of “glasses” is enough to satisfy the world’s need for the mineral.

Questions for kimberlite pipes

Given the opportunity to interview geological formations, scientists and journalists would ask dozens of questions about kimberlite pipes. The standard view of the origin of diamond-bearing glasses is that they are magma flows from the depths of the earth transformed at the surface into minerals.

They were once pushed out by gases that burst out under pressure, literally throwing up the heavy contents of the mantle. Along the way, this content pushed and broke the softer and looser rocks of the upper layers.

Approaching the surface, the magma pushed out by gases hardened, dividing into minerals. However, diamonds are found throughout the depth of the tubes and this is due to the deep formation of diamonds. This is what is associated with their exceptional density.

The point is colossal pressure at depths of many kilometers. The diamonds already formed there were picked up by the flow and distributed in it. Some crystals rose to the surface, while others did not reach it.

This origin of kimberlites is only a hypothesis, since the following questions remain open:

1. Why are pipes found exclusively on ancient platforms? Such areas of the earth's crust have gone through the formation stage. Being ancient, the platforms are tectonically stable. We are talking about thick and hard “crusts” of the earth.

The rush of gases and magma into these is incomprehensible, since it is easier to break through thin new platforms, the 10-kilometer bottom of the oceans, or the transition zones between their waters and the shore. The thickness of the slabs with kimberlites is 40 kilometers. In such conditions there is no active volcanoes with the same erupting lava that can carry diamonds from the depths.

There is an assumption that the tubes were formed at a time when the now stable platforms were young. The ground part of volcanoes under the influence external factors collapsed. Only the underground “glasses” remained.

2. What determines the shape of mineral grains in kimberlite? Diamonds are the only crystals in the rock, and the crystals perfect shape. The units are hard but fragile. Have you ever seen how the edge of a diamond breaks off when struck at a certain angle?

Why did diamonds retain their shape, rising from the depths, literally making their way among the surface rocks? Scientists can't explain. Other kimberlite minerals, which also have a crystalline appearance, were formed from lava at the surface, but became rounded grains.

Minerologists found no traces of melting. Then it would be possible to explain the granularity of olivine and pyroxene by the action of hot magma on them. It could literally melt the edges of minerals. However, in this case, the stones must lose their crystalline structure, turning into a kind of glass. This did not happen.

3. Why are kimberlite pipes goblet-shaped and funnel-like? The pushing of deep gas under the pressure of rocks to the surface is like an explosion. In this case, spherical chambers should form in a homogeneous medium.

Geologists call them camouflage and have studied hundreds of them. It turns out that nuclear reactions and explosions inside the planet have nothing to do with the formation of kimberlite pipes?

Questions arising from one theory are answered by other hypotheses. Some of them ring true.

Unraveling the mysteries of kimberlite pipes

Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences Alexander Portnov put forward a theory according to which kimberlite pipe - big hole , formed not by streams of gas escaping from the depths, but by huge bubbles from it. This explains the location and shape of the “glasses”, because:

• Bubbles can only form under gas-tight ancient platforms. The substance passes through the loose and thin young ones while still in the state of miniature molecules. Under stable platforms they gather in the trillions. In this case, the gas force is enough to form a needle-shaped crack.
• Through a needle-shaped crack in solid deep rocks, the bubble seeps into looser limestones and granites. Like a car's hydraulic drive system, the gas flows through the surface rocks, pushing them apart. This results in a goblet-shaped tube.

Portnov's theory is based on the recent discovery of so-called deep nozzles or hot spots. It is above them that volcanoes form on vulnerable platforms. The crust of the Pacific Ocean, burned through, became the volcanoes of the Hawaiian Islands, for example.

However, if the gas cannot escape, pushing out the magma along the way, bubbles form at hot spots. Each cubic kilometer of these is equipped with a lifting force of 2.5 billion tons. Archimedes' law comes into play. A deep mixture of hydrogen and methane is lighter than water. The “bodies” of ancient platforms are 3 times denser than water. Due to this difference, the gas rises.

As the bubble rises, an area of ​​low pressure forms underneath it. That's why kimberlite pipe in the photo has a brecciform structure. It involves combining fragments of previously formed stones into a single mass.

This is explained by the recrystallization of mania rocks under the influence of gas. The stones are crushed and literally fall into an area of ​​low pressure, that is, first into the stem of the glass-tube, and then into the upper bowl.

Rushing in a stream of gas, according to Portnov, stones are rolled around by it, like pebbles, losing their edges. Under a microscope, the “rounded” surface of mineral grains resembles the microporous structure of gas turbine blades.

Formation of diamonds in kimberlites according to Portnov

Alexander Portnov’s theory also answers the question of why diamonds in kimberlite pipes have the form of crystals. The professor “picked up” the materials from 1969. Then Academician of Sciences of the USSR Boris Deryagin synthesized diamond from methane, disproving the possibility of the mineral being formed only from graphite. The latter is unstable in the earth's mantle, but there is enough methane there in the form of hydrogen carbides.

Deryagin synthesized diamond from methane at subatmospheric pressure. In the depths of the mantle, the pressure is colossal, blocking the oxidizing abilities of oxygen. As the gas bubble rises, the indicator drops to 5 kilobars.

In this case, oxygen begins to combine with hydrogen and methane. This is the process of spontaneous combustion of gas. The flames rage in the underground tank for some time.

If there is a minimum of oxygen in the gas bubble, the element attracts only hydrogen from methane molecules. What remains is pure carbon. It folds into diamonds. From a theoretical point of view, they form together with the kimberlite pipe, and do not “break out” from the Earth’s mantle.

That's why Popugaeva kimberlite pipe filled with diamonds with perfect, not chipped or rounded edges.

When 90% of kimberlites were formed, there was either insufficient or excess oxygen in the gas bubble. The latter leads to the combustion of carbon. In this case, oxygen removes iron from silicates. This is how magnetite is formed. The result is kimberlites without diamonds, but with increased magnetism.

If there is little oxygen in the gas bubble that has pierced the lithospheric plate, the result of the reactions is water vapor. They are absorbed by rocks and mineral dust. As a rule, serpentinite, one of the typical composite kimberlites, absorbs moisture.

1954, kimberlite pipe"Mir", then open, became a breakthrough in the Russian diamond market. Meanwhile, geologists could have stumbled upon pipes devoid of diamonds. Miners compare these to non-working chimneys. If the pipe operates, crystals settle in it, like soot.

Before What was the name of the kimberlite pipe? in the Kimberley province, geologists of the last century pondered the nature of inclusions in glass diamonds. Some diamonds have captured particles of pyrope and other minerals.

The age of the inclusions exceeds the age of the tube itself. This is typical of many kimberlites. Determining the age is the basis for the theory that diamonds formed in the mantle, only then rising to the surface.

From the point of view of Professor Portnoy, foreign inclusions in stones are dust raised by gas from the depths. The age of the diamonds themselves does not match it.

In Yakutia, near the city of Mirny, there is the largest diamond quarry in the world by total volume - the Mir kimberlite pipe (the city of Mirny appeared after the discovery of the pipe and was named in its honor). The quarry has a depth of 525 meters and a diameter of 1.2 kilometers.
The formation of a kimberlite pipe occurs during a volcanic eruption, when through earth's crust gases from the depths of the earth burst out. The shape of such a tube resembles a funnel or glass. A volcanic explosion removes kimberlite from the bowels of the Earth, a rock that sometimes contains diamonds. The breed is named after the city of Kimberley in South Africa, where an 85-carat (16.7 gram) diamond was found in 1871, sparking the Diamond Rush.
On June 13, 1955, geologists searching for a kimberlite pipe in Yakutia saw a tall larch tree whose roots had been exposed by a landslide. The fox dug a deep hole under it. Based on the characteristic bluish color of the soil scattered by the fox, geologists realized that it was kimberlite. A coded radiogram was immediately sent to Moscow: “We lit the peace pipe, the tobacco is excellent.” Soon after 2800 km. off-road, convoys of vehicles flocked to the site of the discovery of the kimberlite pipe. The working village of Mirny grew up around the diamond deposit; now it is a city with a population of 36 thousand people.

The development of the field took place in extremely difficult climatic conditions. To break through the permafrost, it had to be blown up with dynamite. In the 1960s, 2 kg were already produced here. diamonds per year, of which 20% were of jewelry quality and, after cutting and turning into diamonds, could be supplied to a jewelry salon. The remaining 80% of diamonds were used for industrial purposes. The South African company De Beers was concerned about the rapid development of Mir, which was forced to buy Soviet diamonds in order to control prices on the world market. The management of De Beers agreed on the arrival of its delegation in Mirny. The leadership of the USSR agreed to this on the condition that Soviet specialists would visit diamond quarries in South Africa. A De Beers delegation arrived in Moscow in 1976 to fly to Mirny, but the South African guests were deliberately delayed by endless meetings and banquets in Moscow, so when the delegation finally reached Mirny, they had only 20 minutes to inspect the quarry. However, South African experts were still amazed by what they saw, for example, by the fact that the Russians did not use water when processing ore. Although this is understandable: after all, 7 months a year in Mirny there is sub-zero temperature and therefore the use of water is simply impossible.
Between 1957 and 2001, the Mir quarry produced $17 billion worth of diamonds. Over the years, the quarry expanded so much that trucks had to travel 8 km along a spiral road. from bottom to surface. The Russian company ALROSA, which owns the Mir quarry, stopped ore mining in 2001 open method, because this method has become dangerous and ineffective. Scientists have found that diamonds lie at a depth of more than 1 km, and at such a depth, it is not a quarry that is suitable for mining, but an underground mine, which, according to the plan, will reach its design capacity of one million tons of ore per year already in 2012. In total, the development of the field is planned for another 34 years.
Helicopters are strictly prohibited from flying over the quarry, because a huge funnel sucks into itself aircraft. The high walls of the quarry are fraught with danger not only for helicopters: there is a threat of landslides, and one day the quarry may swallow the surrounding, including built-up, areas. Scientists are thinking about a project for an eco-city in a now empty huge pit. The head of the Moscow architectural bureau Nikolai Lyutomsky talks about his plans: “The main part of the project is a huge concrete structure, which will become a kind of “traffic jam” for former quarry and will burst it from the inside. The pit will be covered on top with a translucent dome on which solar panels will be installed. The climate in Yakutia is harsh, but there are many clear days there and the batteries will be able to generate about 200 MW of electricity, which should more than meet the needs of the future city. In addition, you can use the heat of the Earth. In winter, in Mirny the air cools to –60°C, but at a depth below 150 meters (that is, below permafrost), the ground temperature is above zero, which adds energy efficiency to the project. The space of the city is proposed to be divided into three tiers: the lower one - for growing agricultural products (the so-called vertical farm), the middle one - a forest park zone that purifies the air, and the upper one for the permanent residence of people, which has a residential function and serves to house administrative and socio-cultural buildings and structures. The total area of ​​the city will be 3 million. square meters, and up to 10,000 people - tourists, can live here, service personnel and farm workers."

In my opinion, the current hypothesis that explains how they are formed kimberlite pipes, is not satisfactory. However, I am not a geologist, and I am not going to criticize the highly respected scientific authors, who, of course, know better than me what kimberlite pipes are. I just want to express one more hypothesis about how kimberlite pipes can, in principle, form. And this hypothesis, in my opinion, looks more logical.

Currently, the formation of diamonds is associated with kimberlite pipes, the origin of which, as geologists believe, is associated with the ejection of igneous rocks to the surface from depths of up to 200 kilometers.

Typically, substances are found in kimberlite pipes that do not usually exist on the surface of the earth: “peridotite rock, olivine crystals and - only occasionally, in one tube out of a hundred - diamonds.” Kimberlite is the name given to the ultramafic rock that fills the explosion tubes.

Without trying to criticize geologists and their hypotheses regarding the formation of diamond-bearing kimberlite pipes, it would not be a big stretch on my part to assume that kimberlite pipes are formed not from the bottom up, but from the top down, as a result of electric discharge explosions of meteorites.

It can be assumed that in this case, a diamond-containing kimberlite pipe is formed when the gigantic power of an electric discharge, combined with the colossal pressure of the explosion itself, passes through carbon-containing (graphite) rocks, if, of course, they are present at the site of the epicenter of the explosion.

Despite some extravagance, this exotic hypothesis does not contradict the currently accepted mechanism for the artificial production of diamonds. And this hypothesis seems to me the only fair one.

According to modern encyclopedic scientific information, a kimberlite pipe, or explosion pipe, is a vertical, or close to vertical, geological body , formed when gases break through the earth's crust. The kimberlite pipe is filled with kimberlite and is a pipe-shaped channel with a diameter of 0.4-1 km, along which mainlyon ancient platforms there was a breakthrough of magmatic solutions and gases. This channel looks like a giant pillar ending at the top conical blowing. In depth the conical body narrows , resembling a giant carrot, and at some depth it turns into a vein. Only up to ten percent of newly discovered kimberlite pipes are diamond-bearing. Diamonds are mined in South Africa, India, and Yakutia. For last decades About two hundred kimberlite pipes have been discovered in Yakutia. Kimberlite pipes are considered ancient volcanoes, the ground part of which was destroyed as a result of erosive processes. According to experts, about ninety percent of diamond reserves from primary sources contain kimberlite pipes, the rest - in lamproite tubes. Let's take a break.

Isn’t it easier to consider that this giant “carrot” is the melted trace of the column of a giant electric discharge explosion that created natural conditions a giant electric underground furnace for the production of diamonds under the colossal pressure of the monstrous power of a cosmic explosion.

This information about kimberlite diamond-containing pipes suggests that for their formation the electric discharge explosion must be very powerful, and the electric discharge must penetrate to a depth of a kilometer or more. And if my hypothesis is correct, and kimberlite pipes are really formed as a result of electric discharge explosions of meteorites, then this will greatly facilitate the search for the epicenters of space disasters for researchers. Let me remind you that the most famous kimberlite pipes are located in the Cape Province of South Africa, near the city Kimberly.

Kimberlite pipes discovered in Russia on the Irelyakh River (tributary of the Vilyuya).

And I ask you to remember this information, because in subsequent articles it will receive its logical continuation.

I am happy to present my hypothesis to geologists, and readers who want to continue the story will have to wait for the publication of my next book. And if my hypothesis turns out to be correct, then giant diamond-bearing kimberlite pipes may be located under the Great Lakes of America.

In my opinion, it would be wrong to call diamond the only mineral that is mined from kimberlite pipes. And the natural diamond itself is more interesting as a precious stone, while artificial diamonds are used in industry. But fluorite, as an accompanying mineral of kimberlite pipe, is widely used in production.

Kimberlite explosion pipes

“Explosion tubes” are also called diatremes, and they are a tube-shaped channel that is formed when molten magma and gases break through the surface of the earth’s crust. They received their name when such a pipe was discovered in South Africa (1871), after the name of the city of Kimberley. The shape of the tube is cone-shaped: it narrows closer to the center of the Earth and has a wide neck when reaching the surface.

At their core, they are the vents of volcanoes operating inside the planet; their age can vary from the Proterozoic to the present day. It is from the volcanic magma in the tube that diamonds crystallize over time.

Fluorite is a mineral of kimberlite pipes

This mineral is contained only at 10% of the useful component of the tube, the rest is diamonds. It is a low-melting calcium fluoride and looks like a crystal with completely different shades: from yellow to violet-black.

This variation in colors is due to its strong sensitivity to radiation. It is from its name that the term “fluorescence” comes from - a glow after treatment. When heated in ultraviolet rays, it changes brightness and color. Its industrial use is very wide:

• Used in the creation of quantum light generators.
• It is a component of some enamels and glazes.
• As a flux, it is involved in the production of certain types of low-melting slag.
• When treated with sulfuric acid, it can be the basis for creating optical lenses.

All this speaks to the greater practical benefits of fluorite than natural diamond. Its largest deposits in the Russian Federation are Transbaikalia, Primorsky Krai and Buryatia.

Once the world's largest diamond quarry, the Mir kimberlite pipe was created by human hands in the kingdom of permafrost at the address: the city of Mirny, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The flight of aircraft is strictly prohibited over the man-made crater: a giant funnel with a diameter of 1,200 meters and a depth of 525 meters, initiating descending air currents, sucks in helicopters.

The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) is a fantastically rich geological province. It has no analogues not only in Russia, but throughout the world. All this causes the undisguised envy of our foreign friends and partners. “It is unfair that the Lord God has rewarded a land where winter temperatures reach minus 70 degrees with such riches!” – statesmen and pundits from near and far abroad very often assert.+

In Yakut folklore there is a legend that, having decided to fairly divide precious materials and stones throughout the Earth, God flew over Yakutia in the winter cold and froze his hands, as a result of which gold and diamonds were scattered from an untied bag of precious stones across the mountains, river valleys and tundra , silver and platinum, and many other noble minerals.+

But for a long time, the diamond deposits that Yakutia is so rich in remained inaccessible. Until recently, no human had ever set foot on these lands, where permafrost reigns. And this is not surprising: in terms of the absolute value of the minimum temperature, Yakutia has no equal regions in the entire Northern Hemisphere.+

Diamonds and “Kuzka’s Mother”

The intensive search for diamonds in Yakutia began with the Cold War. At that time, the need for strategic raw materials used in the defense industry sharply increased in the Soviet Union. To purchase it abroad, the country needed funds that could be obtained from the sale of precious stones that had already become famous on the world market.+

However, insignificant placers gemstone in the Urals could not satisfy the requests of the Soviet government for the necessary funds. At the same time, venerable Soviet scientists stubbornly asserted: there are signs indicating the presence of kimberlite pipes in the Yakut land.+

The formation of a kimberlite pipe occurs during a volcanic eruption, when gases from the bowels of the earth burst out through the earth's crust. The shape of such a tube resembles a funnel or glass. A volcanic explosion removes kimberlite rock, sometimes containing diamonds, from the bowels of the Earth. The breed is named after the town of Kimberley in South Africa, where an 85-carat (16.7 gram) diamond was found in 1871, sparking the Diamond Rush.+

Numerous geological expeditions were sent to Yakutia with only one goal: to find a kimberlite pipe of industrial importance.+

In the fall of 1948, a group of geologists led by G. Fanstein began prospecting work on the Chona and Vilyui rivers, and on August 7, 1949, they found the first diamond on a sand spit called Sokolina, and more than 20 more crystals and identified a diamond-bearing placer here. As a result of prospecting work in 1950-1953, several diamond-bearing placers were discovered in Yakutia.+

All this indicated that there are kimberlite pipes in Yakutia. And finally, several years of geological exploration were crowned with success. On August 21 of the following year, 1954, geologist Larisa Popugaeva and worker Fyodor Belikov discovered the first kimberlite pipe in the USSR and named it “Zarnitsa”. But this deposit was poorly suited for industrial purposes.+

On June 13, 1955, geologists of the expedition of Yu.I. Khabardin and E.N. Elagina, who were looking for a kimberlite pipe in Yakutia, saw a tall larch tree, the roots of which were exposed by a landslide. The fox dug a deep hole under it. Based on the characteristic bluish color of the soil scattered by the fox, geologists realized that it was kimberlite. Such is the legend.+

In fact, the search engines were guided by a forecast map compiled by geologists N.A. Amkinna and N.V. Kind.+

The famous radiogram they transmitted to the leadership of the expedition about the discovery of kimberlite was coded: “We lit the pipe of peace, the tobacco is excellent. Avdeenko, Elagina, Khabardin.” As usual, in those days the secretary of the party organization was the first to sign the radiogram.+

The diamond deposit was a discovery of extreme importance. The “snuff” in the pipe really turned out to be quite good: more than 80% of all diamonds mined in this mine weighed 5 carats each (1 gram). Potentially, the development of the diamond industry should have doubled the economic potential of the Soviet Union.+

All this allowed Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev not only to loudly knock his shoes on the UN podium, but also to make a strategic statement that threw all his adversaries into a cold sweat Soviet Union: “It’s time to show the capitalist aggressors “Kuzka’s mother”; soon our Motherland will take a leading position in the international foreign exchange market, having developed new diamond deposits in Yakutia for the speedy creation of the material and technical base of communism in the USSR.”+

The Mir kimberlite pipe is the richest diamond deposit in the world

The beginning of the industrial development of diamonds dates back to 1957. It is clear that the field had to be developed in extremely difficult climatic conditions, and in order to break deep into the permafrost, the ground had to be blasted using dynamite.+

However, already in 1960, the annual diamond production was 2 kilograms, and a fifth of them were of jewelry quality.+

After proper cutting, diamonds turned into amazingly beautiful diamonds that were used to create jewelry. +

Soviet citizens planning to get married could afford to buy exquisite wedding rings with diamonds, in which diamonds were mined in the Yakut Mir kimberlite pipe.+

The remaining 80% of mined diamonds are used for industrial purposes, since according to the Mohs scale of reference minerals, it is the hardest mineral in the world, with the highest thermal conductivity, dispersion and refraction.+

The largest quarry in terms of diamond production

Address: Russia, Yakutia, Mirny
Opened: 1955
Start of production: 1957
End of open pit mining: 2001
Depth: 525 m
Diameter: 1.2 km
Owner: CJSC AK ALROSA (Almazy Russia-Sakha)+

As befits any miracle, there are legends about the Mir diamond mine. They say that when you are at the bottom, you feel dizzy, but when you go up, you experience euphoria. Looking like a bottomless abyss, the mine beckons and hypnotizes. Some people dream of jumping to the bottom of a quarry with a parachute.+

One can only be amazed at how much effort has gone into developing the quarry. Take, for example, the problem of aggressive waters saturated with methane, hydrogen sulfide and oil, which arrive at a speed of 3,500 cubic meters per day. So, if a unique grout curtain had not been created, the quarry would inevitably have been flooded.+

Between 1957 and 2001, the Mir quarry produced $17 billion worth of diamonds. Over the years, the quarry expanded so much that trucks had to travel 8 kilometers along a spiral road from the bottom to the surface.+

The Russian company ALROSA, which owns the Mir quarry, stopped open-pit mining of ore in 2001, as this method had become dangerous and ineffective.+

Scientists have found that diamonds lie at a depth of more than 1 kilometer, and at such a depth it is not a quarry that is suitable for mining, but an underground mine, which produced one million tons of ore per year at its design capacity already in 2012. In total, the development of the field is planned for another 34 years.+

It is necessary to make good use of the mothballed quarry

If a spent quarry is left to the elements, it will not only be useless, but over time it can also become dangerous. High walls pose the threat of landslides, and one day the quarry may swallow the adjacent, including built-up, areas.+

The idea of ​​building a completely autonomous city in the Mir diamond mine seems to be the ultimate utopian dream, but the authors of this concept - employees of the Alice architectural bureau - cannot be called empty dreamers. The head of the bureau, Nikolai Lyutomsky, is an experienced architect who started at Mosproekt-1. The idea was suggested by MArchI student Elena Tsyrenova, a native of the city of Mirny. She proposed to her scientific supervisor N. Lyutomsky the topic of her diploma: “A tourist hotel near the edge of the Mir diamond quarry.”+

And although the cyclopean hole in the ground in the middle of the permafrost really attracts the attention of tourists, the manager advised Elena, together with the architects of AB Elis, to participate in the development of a real underground city.+

Scientists are thinking about an eco-city project in a now empty huge hole

Due to the landslide hazard of the slopes of the existing quarry, the project will require cutting off the soil to form a pit in the shape of an inverted truncated cone with a base diameter of about 250 m. When developing the pit, a soil mass will be freed up, which will be used to partially backfill the quarry to a level above the groundwater level . Groundwater is found in the quarry in the depth range from 280−320 to 426−525 m from the surface. To avoid flooding of the pit and underground structures, it will be necessary to erect anti-seepage curtains along the perimeter of the bottom of the pit in the form of a “wall in the ground.”+

The head of the Moscow architectural bureau Nikolai Lyutomsky talks about his plans: “The main part of the project is a huge concrete structure, which will become a kind of “plug” for the former quarry and will burst it from the inside. The pit will be covered on top with a translucent dome on which solar panels will be installed. The climate in Yakutia is harsh, but there are many clear days there and the batteries will be able to generate about 200 MW of electricity, which should more than meet the needs of the future city. In addition, you can use the heat of the Earth. +

In winter in Mirny, the air cools to -60°C, but at a depth below 150 meters (that is, below permafrost), the ground temperature is positive, which adds energy efficiency to the project.+

The space of the city is proposed to be divided into three tiers: the lower one - for growing agricultural products (the so-called vertical farm), the middle one - a forest park zone that purifies the air, and the upper one for the permanent residence of people, which has a residential function and serves to house administrative and socio-cultural buildings and structures.+

The total area of ​​the city will be 3 million square meters, and up to 10,000 people will be able to live here - tourists, service personnel and farm workers.”+

The Mir diamond quarry was included in the list of candidates for the “Seven Wonders of Russia” competition, organized with the participation of the Izvestia newspaper, the Rossiya TV channel and the Mayak radio station. He was not awarded the title of winner, but this does not detract from his significance in the history of Russia and his enormous contribution to the achievements of our country.+

Boris Skupov