Underground Mining at Ekati and Diavik Diamond Mines

Primary diamond deposits have been mined on an industrial scale only within the past 150 years, mainly as open pit operations. Underground mining of these deposits was implemented only within the second half of the 20th century in South Africa and over the last 50 years, a relatively large number of underground mining methods were tested and implemented. In the mid 1990’s, Alrosa started the development of the first underground diamond mine in Russia, Internationalnaya. Since then, underground mining was implemented on several mines in Yakutia including Aikhal, Mir, and Udachny. China had also experimented with underground mining at Nhangma 701 Diamond Mine at the end of the 1990s. Today, out of some 40 diamond hard rock mines, approximately half are underground and a number of others have underground plans or the potential to mine underground.