Mining Diamonds - Heart In Diamond

About half of all the diamonds mined today originate in Africa, although significant sources of diamonds have also been discovered in Australia, India, Russia, and Canada. Diamonds that are near the surface of the earth were forced up by volcanic activity. Thus the primary source for diamonds are volcanic pipes where the diamonds were not ejected by the volcano but sit in the pipe near the surface where they were forced up by the magma. Most diamond mines consist of a large vertical shaft down into these volcanic pipes with side tunnels running out from the main shaft. The Mirny Mine in Russian Siberia is an open pit mine that is over 1700 feet deep!