All you need to know about diamond mining techniques!

Diamonds are said to be rare but is that exactly the case? While the wearer may think that naturally grown diamonds are rarer compared to other precious and semi-precious gems, they aren’t. Though quality diamonds do offer great value and are rare. That is the reason, why mining companies invest lots of money setting up mines to obtain quality diamonds. Did you know, on average to complete a diamond mining process moves about 250 tons of earth just to get a single carat of a diamond?

Do you want to know how diamonds are formed and where are they found?

Diamonds are made from volcanic eruptions, which create kimberlite rock. An igneous rock, kimberlite may hide diamonds.

To know more about the diamond mining process let's know the diamond mining techniques and different ways kimberlite is mined to find diamonds. The most common mining method that big enterprises like KGK Group opt for is alluvial mining, pipe mining, open-pit mining, underground mining method, and marine diamond mining.

ALLUVIAL MINING

The simplest of all alluvial mining is a process that mainly occurs on beaches and riverbeds. Years of wind, rain, water currents, and erosion brings diamond deposits downstream from their direct deposits of kimberlite to riverbeds and that’s how some of the rarest KGK diamonds are formed. It may seem to be a simple process as panning through the gravel in a stream. However, it can be very complex to divert the river water to expose diamond-bearing gravel.

PIPE MINING

Pipe mining includes two types of methods, open-pit mining, and underground mining. So, at KGK group, we have tried to give you the specifics on both.

OPEN PIT MINING

Open-pit mining begins with an excavation of the pit in a kimberlite pipe. In this process, the layers of rock and sand that are found above the kimberlite are removed. Miners at big mining companies like KGK mining, move the layers of sand and rock closer to the surface to process and extract diamond deposits.

Ore that is found in the constructed pit is then broken by blasting. Hard rock is usually drilled and using explosives it is blasted. After they are broken, the ore is loaded and transported to the ore crusher for further processing, and then the diamond extraction process begins.

UNDERGROUND MINING

In this process, miners of trusted miners like KGK mining create a tunnel through the earth’s crust to access a kimberlite pipe. These tunnels are built parallelly with each other with one slightly above the other. Mining starts when the miners blast the ore. It then falls through the funnels and gets collected on the bottom tunnel. When this process gets finished, loaders pick up the broken ore and transport it to the surface for further processing. 

MARINE MINING

Marine mining involves extracting diamonds from the floor of the ocean, a hundred meters underwater.  Ships with specialized equipment suck gravel from the ocean bed up through the flexible pipes to drill the diamond. Marine mining is also divided into horizontal and vertical marine mining.

Diamonds are precious minerals that after several different steps become the dazzling gems that we all love. 

At KGK Group, we follow sustainable ways to mine the best KGK Diamonds.