1-million carat diamond mine found in China
13 Jan 2012
China has discovered a mine with a reserve of about 1 million carats worth of diamonds in Northeast China's Liaoning province.
''A large diamond mine was found in Wafangdian district of Liaoning province,'' said Yu Wenli, the director of Liaoning Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources Exploration on Wednesday.
Late last year the prospecting team had found a deposit of 130-metre thick Kimberley rock, which is estimated to have formed 400 million years ago. While assessing the rock, the team found about 2.89 carats worth of diamonds contained in nearly every cubic metre of the rock.
This mine is understood to be the largest diamond mine discovered in 30 years in Liaoning province and is estimated to be worth over billions of yuan.
In 2010, authorities found a 210,000-carat diamond mine in the same region, just 50 km from the site.
The mine has a reserve of 1 million carats, according to the Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources and will take 30 years to mine the entire deposit.
Most Chinese diamond mines are located in the provinces of Liaoning and Shandong. Authorities claim diamonds from the city of Wafangdian in Liaoning are purer than those found in South Africa.
Experts said no large diamond mine has been discovered globally for a decade and going by the present mining rate, diamonds in the world will be exhausted in 20 years.