Billions of diamonds secrets of Russia

The secret was kept for more than forty years, but Russia has declassified documents that will "revolutionize the diamond market," says the Christian Science Monitor. In the 1970s, when they were researching in Eastern Siberia, the Soviets discovered in a crater of a huge asteroid diamond deposit, containing nearly "1 000 000 000 000" carats. Enough to supply the world market for over three thousand years, the newspaper said.

billions of diamonds secrets of Russia

 
Russian authorities at the time had decided to withhold this information, to avoid competing with the diamond mines of the region of Yakutia, which flooded the market already highly controlled the gemstone. But the secrecy was lifted by Moscow on 15 September, and scientists have since been allowed to confide in the Russian press.

According to news agency ITAR-TASS, diamonds Popigaï - the name of the crater - are "twice as hard" as usual diamonds, making them "ideal for industrial and scientific purposes." Their constitution so unusual, due to the enormous pressure experienced at the time of the explosion of the meteorite, does not actually use them to create jewelry. These "diamonds from space," as they are called Russian scientists should not rush the diamond market, since it is mainly focused on jewelry.

There are three other craters of the same kind in the world, Mexico, Canada and South Africa, but of Popigaï is the only perfectly preserved. The crater, old 35 million years, is 62.137 miles wide.