How large is the Mirny Diamond Mine?”
Its big, really big! www.usmra.com/photos/bigpit/002.jpg To put this in perspective, look at the red arrow. Below you will see what the little speck is that it is pointing to. www.usmra.com/photos/bigpit/001.jpg Here is some basic information on the mine. The second largest man-made hole in the world (surpassed only by the Bingham Copper Mine in Utah) is a diamond mine located on the outskirts of Mirny, a small town in eastern Siberia. Begun in 1955, the pit is now 525 meters deep and 1.25 kilometers across. The massive 20-foot tall rock-hauling trucks that service the mine travel along a road that spirals down from the lip of the hole to its basin. Round-trip travel time: two hours. Airspace above the mine is off-limits to helicopters, after “a few accidents when they were ‘sucked in’ by downward air flow…”
