Discovery of Huge Diamond Deposit in China

By Joel ScanlonJan 16 2012

The largest deposit of diamonds in Asia has been discovered in the Liaoning province in China. The mine in the Wafandgdian district near the city of Dalian is expected to hold one million carats of diamonds. It was discovered last year.

The Sixth Geological Team of Liaoning found the 860 meter underground mine which is likely to have a mine life of 30 years. Lin Shaoquan, the chief engineer of the geological team said that it would be difficult to extract the diamonds from the mine due to the depth of the deposit. However given the value of several billion yuan that the high grade mine would bring the province there is a good possibility of the mine being exploited despite the depth.

Yu Wenli, director of the bureau of geology and mineral resource exploration in Liaoning said at the recent Provincial Committee meeting said that the deposit in Wafangdian contained an estimated 200 kilograms of diamonds and it was the largest such discovery during the past three decades in the province.

Previously in 2012 another mine with 210,000 carats of diamonds was found in Wafangdian. This deposit is less than 50 km away from the new deposit recently discovered. As per the Liaoning Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources Exploration, the diamonds in the mine here are purer than those found in South Africa.