WorldWide Drilling Resource

Nesting Diamond Discovered in Russia Adapted from Information by ALROSA and the Gemological Institute of America, Inc. Specialists sorting through rough diamonds at the Nyurba mining and processing division of ALROSA in Yakutia, Russia, came across something they’d never seen before; a tiny diamond moving freely inside a larger diamond. The Nyurba Mining and Processing Division was established in 2000, to develop the deposits of the Nakyn ore field. This includes two open-pit mines working the Nyurbinsky and Botuobinsky kimberlite pipes, as well as a placer deposit. Experts studying the nesting diamond believe this is the first such diamond in the history of global dia- mond mining. Scientists speculate the diamond could be more than 800 million years old. Despite its complex structure, it weighs only 0.62 carats and the internal diamond weighs an estimated 0.02 carats. Reminiscent of the traditional nesting Russian Matryoshka doll, it has been dubbed the Matryoshka Diamond. Specialists of the Yakutsk Diamond Trade Enterprise turned the discovery over to the Research and Development Geological Enterprise of ALROSA for analysis. Scientists there studied the unique inclu- sion with Raman and infrared spectroscopies, as well as X-ray microtomography. Based on the results, scientists theorized how the crystal was formed. According to them, the internal diamond was formed first, and the external diamond formed during the later stages of growth. According to Oleg Kovalchuk, deputy director for innovations at ALROSA's Research and Development Geological Enterprise, "The most interesting thing for us, was to find out how the air space between the inner and outer diamonds was formed. We have two main hypotheses. According to the first version, a mantle mineral captured a diamond during its growth, and later it was dissolved in the earth's surface. According to the second version, a layer of porous polycrystalline diamond substance was formed inside the dia- mond because of ultrafast growth, and more aggressive mantle processes subsequently dissolved it. Due to the presence of the dissolved zone, one diamond began to move freely inside another . . . As far as we know, there were no such diamonds in the history of global diamond mining yet. This is really a unique creation of nature, especially since nature does not like emptiness. Usually, some minerals are replaced by others without cavity formation." Editor’s Note: In between our print issues, the WWDR Team prepares an electronic newsletter called E-News Flash . Based on readership, this was the most popular E-News Flash article of the month. Get in on the action and subscribe today at: www.worldwidedrillingresource.com 55 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® DECEMBER 2019 Open the Doorway to all the Event Photos during ICUEE 2019 To see all the photos from this event, go to www.worldwidedrillingresource.com Feel free to download at will and print the photo(s) of your choice. Compliments of WorldWide Drilling Resource ® . Photos are copyrighted and released for personal use only - no commercial use permitted. MIN The smaller diamond moves freely in a void within the larger diamond. The X-ray on the right allows the empty space to be seen more clearly. Diamonds are formed roughly 100 miles beneath the surface where extreme temperatures and pressure compress the carbon atoms into the hardest material on earth. Diamonds are more than 58 times harder than anything else in nature. Photos courtesy of ALROSA.