MINE SITES
During almost 50 years of operation ( 1967 to 2015 ), the company has mined more than 350 million tons of ore
Vladimir
Shchukin
“ In 1955 , my exploration team had to trot around 1,000 kilometers of routes in search of diamonds ,” Shchukin said . “ However , we discovered the Udachnaya pipe just in one day , in a matter of one hour and a half . This is why we named it that way ( Udachnaya ) because with other diamond pipes everything was much more complicated .”
Even though the above ground operations are ending , the importance of Vladimir Shchukin ’ s discovery has never been clearer : the mine has become the company ’ s flagship diamond mining operation , producing more than half of Western Yakutia ’ s diamonds , as well as becoming the largest open pit mine in terms of size and diamond production .
During almost 50 years of operation ( 1967 to 2015 ), the company has mined more than 350 million tons of ore containing roughly $ 80 billion worth of diamonds . At the peak of its career , the Udachny mine yielded roughly 13 million tons of ore per year , annually producing tens of millions of diamond carats .
16 October 2015