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Events/Discovery · 1979

Argyle diamond pipe AK1 found

Discovery, October 1979, Australia.

What happened

The AK1 pipe was found in October 1979 after prospectors followed diamonds from Smoke Creek. Alluvial mining began in 1983, open pit in 1985 and underground in 2013.1,2,3

Why it matters

It became the world's largest diamond producer by volume.1,2,3

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. Mir kimberlite pipe found in Yakutia

    The journal calls Mir one of the largest and best known diamond deposits in Russia and the world.4,5

  2. De Beers finds the Orapa kimberlite

    Orapa was the first mine opened by the company, ahead of Letlhakane (1977) and Jwaneng (1982).6,7

  3. De Beers Botswana Mining Company formed

    Debswana is the joint venture behind Botswana's diamond mines.6,8

  4. Kimberlite pipes found at Jwaneng

    Jwaneng went on to become a core Debswana mine.6,9

  5. Orapa mine officially opened

    Orapa was the first mine opened by the company, ahead of Letlhakane (1977) and Jwaneng (1982).6,7

  6. Argyle diamond pipe AK1 found

    It became the world's largest diamond producer by volume.1,2,3

  7. Jwaneng diamond mine: Wikidata inception date

    The Botswana diamond mine is dated to 1982 in Wikidata.10

  8. Diamonds found at Lac de Gras

    The find led to Ekati, Canada's first diamond mine.11,12

Open the full timeline

Where next

Mines

Located inArgyle diamond mineThe AK1 pipe was found in October 1979. Alluvial mining began in 1983.1

Events

Led toArgyle diamond mine ends miningFrom a find in 1979 to more than 865 million carats of rough diamonds by 2020.1

Sources

  1. The iconic Argyle diamond mine delivers its final production (3 Nov 2020) Rio Tinto
  2. Diamonds (Mining and Energy Western Australia exhibition) State Library of Western Australia
  3. Argyle diamond mine (item Q652475), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  4. Diamond deposit of the Mir kimberlite pipe: main research stages (abstract, 2025) Mining Industry Journal
  5. Mir diamond mine (item Q1369879), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  6. Report to Stakeholders 2014 (key milestones 1967 to 2014) Debswana Diamond Company
  7. Orapa diamond mine (item Q859817), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  8. Gaborone (item Q3919), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  9. Jwaneng diamond mine (item Q4160014), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  10. Wikidata item Q4160014 (Jwaneng diamond mine)
  11. History of Diamonds in the NWT Government of the Northwest Territories
  12. Lac de Gras (item Q1799623), coordinate location P625 Wikidata

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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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0.