Russia
The most success story of diamond exploration in the 20th Century is Russia. In the 1930s, academician Vladimir S. Sobolev documented similarities between the ancient bedrock of Siberia and that of South Africa and Botswana. He completed that major diamond deposits in Siberia were possible.
In 1947, prospecting started by looking in streambeds for trails of indicator minerals such as pyrope garnet and ilmenite, which point to major diamond deposits. Within a decade the hard work succeeded, in spite of very difficult Arctic wilderness conditions. In 1954 in Sakha (formerly Yakutia), the first kimberlite pipe, Zarnista (Dawn) was established in the Daldyn field; in 1955, the very rich Mir (Peace) and Udachnaya (Lucky) pipes were discovered within 10 days of every other but about 400 km (250 miles) apart. By 1956, more than 500 kimberlites had been revealed. In a harsh and remote area, deposits were developed slowly from 1957, and by 1970 Russia had become the third largest producer. It is now the fourth major producer on the basis of weight. Its invention is about one quarter gem diamonds, worth $1.2 billion, second to Botswana.
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