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Events/Discovery · 1955

Mir kimberlite pipe found in Yakutia

Discovery, 1955-06-13, Russia.

What happened

The Mir kimberlite pipe was discovered on 13 June 1955 in the Yakutsk diamondiferous province.1,2

Why it matters

The journal calls Mir one of the largest and best known diamond deposits in Russia and the world.1,2

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. Williamson diamond mine: Wikidata inception date

    The Tanzanian diamond mine is dated to 1940 in Wikidata.3

  2. Mir kimberlite pipe found in Yakutia

    The journal calls Mir one of the largest and best known diamond deposits in Russia and the world.1,2

  3. De Beers finds the Orapa kimberlite

    Orapa was the first mine opened by the company, ahead of Letlhakane (1977) and Jwaneng (1982).4,5

  4. De Beers Botswana Mining Company formed

    Debswana is the joint venture behind Botswana's diamond mines.4,6

  5. Kimberlite pipes found at Jwaneng

    Jwaneng went on to become a core Debswana mine.4,7

  6. Orapa diamond mine: Wikidata inception date

    The Botswana diamond mine is dated to 1971 in Wikidata.8

  7. Orapa mine officially opened

    Orapa was the first mine opened by the company, ahead of Letlhakane (1977) and Jwaneng (1982).4,5

  8. Argyle diamond pipe AK1 found

    It became the world's largest diamond producer by volume.9,10,11

Open the full timeline

Where next

Mines

Located inMir diamond mineThe Mir pipe was found on 13 June 1955. Open-pit mining there ended in 2001.12Located inUdachnaya pipe (Udachny mine)Udachnaya was also found in 1955 and is now worked underground.12

Sources

  1. Diamond deposit of the Mir kimberlite pipe: main research stages (abstract, 2025) Mining Industry Journal
  2. Mir diamond mine (item Q1369879), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  3. Wikidata item Q3314859 (Williamson diamond mine)
  4. Report to Stakeholders 2014 (key milestones 1967 to 2014) Debswana Diamond Company
  5. Orapa diamond mine (item Q859817), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  6. Gaborone (item Q3919), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  7. Jwaneng diamond mine (item Q4160014), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  8. Wikidata item Q859817 (Orapa diamond mine)
  9. The iconic Argyle diamond mine delivers its final production (3 Nov 2020) Rio Tinto
  10. Diamonds (Mining and Energy Western Australia exhibition) State Library of Western Australia
  11. Argyle diamond mine (item Q652475), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  12. Resources and assets ALROSA

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Pictures: Kimberley, South Africa: the Kimberley mine and town. Woodburytype, 1888, after a photograph by Robert Harris., Harris, Robert, active 1881-1888. (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Kirunavaara gruva, Kiruna., Fotograf okänd, / Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0).