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Events/Closure · 2020

Argyle diamond mine ends mining

Closure, 3 November 2020, Australia.

What happened

Rio Tinto marked the final day of mining at Argyle on 3 November 2020, after more than 865 million carats of rough diamonds.1,2

Why it matters

It ended the main source of rare pink diamonds.1,2

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. Diamonds found at Lac de Gras

    The find led to Ekati, Canada's first diamond mine.3,4

  2. Kimberley Process Certification Scheme comes into force

    It sets rules to keep conflict diamonds out of the legal supply chain.5,6

  3. Argyle diamond mine ends mining

    It ended the main source of rare pink diamonds.1,2

Open the full timeline

Where next

Mines

Located inArgyle diamond mineThe last day of mining was 3 November 2020 after 37 years.7

Events

Came out ofArgyle diamond pipe AK1 foundFrom 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. Argyle diamond mine (item Q652475), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  3. History of Diamonds in the NWT Government of the Northwest Territories
  4. Lac de Gras (item Q1799623), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  5. What is the Kimberley Process?
  6. Interlaken (item Q68103), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  7. Argyle closure page Rio Tinto

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.