2. Home to a colossal diamond mine producing more than one hundred million carats, the Diavik Diamond Mine in Canada is reminiscent of science fiction
Hidden in the remote sub-Arctic tundra of the North Slave Region in the Northwest Territories, Canada, approximately 220 kilometers south of the Arctic Circle is Lac de Gras: a 569 square kilometer lake. In the middle of Lac de Gras is a small island, measuring just twenty square kilometers, informally known as East Island. Home to the Diavik Diamond Mine, this unfamiliar patch of isolated dirt was the center of the diamond rush in the last decade of the twentieth century. Initially surveyed in 1992 after the discovery of large mineral deposits, construction begun at the mysterious site in 2003.
Taking until 2010 for underground mining to commence at the colossal site, in the years since extraction began an estimated one hundred million carats of diamonds have been pulled from the Diavik Diamond Mine. Among these finds was a 552-carat yellow diamond – the largest ever found in North America – discovered in October 2018. Continuing to produce approximately 7 million carats, or 1,400 kilograms, of diamonds year each, and with an estimated lifespan of roughly twenty years, the mine is projected to continue to remain one of the leading sources of crystalline carbon for years to come.