I’ve been there. The air photo makes it look like something much worse. It’s mostly rock that has been dug up, crushed piled sorted (diamonds removed), and then piled up. The rock is clean. There’s no acid mine drainage or similar. The water next to it is so clean you can see 30m into it on a clear day and drink directly from the lake (it meets drinking water guidelines). When the mine closes, they’ll let the pits flood and the rest will slowly grow over. The worst thing about this mine is the carbon footprint from operating the machinery.
Well, the second worst thing is that diamonds are silly. ;)
I think the background image is Diavik diamond mine in Northwest Territories.
Oh wow thanks! Amazing how you knew where it was.
Edit: kinda looks like there are 3 pits in the background
I’ve been there. The air photo makes it look like something much worse. It’s mostly rock that has been dug up, crushed piled sorted (diamonds removed), and then piled up. The rock is clean. There’s no acid mine drainage or similar. The water next to it is so clean you can see 30m into it on a clear day and drink directly from the lake (it meets drinking water guidelines). When the mine closes, they’ll let the pits flood and the rest will slowly grow over. The worst thing about this mine is the carbon footprint from operating the machinery.
Well, the second worst thing is that diamonds are silly. ;)
Those big ass pits creep me out. Where do they put all that earth they remove? I don’t see piles big enough.
The material largely forms the pit walls. The pits would be underwater otherwise. The actual deposits were found under the water originally.