Part 2: The World’s Most Remote Mines Elsewhere in western
Australia, one third of the world’s annual production of
diamonds is mined at the Argyle and the Ellendale diamond mines.
The Argyle Diamond Mine, owned by Rio Tinto, is located in the
East Kimberley region in the remote north of Western Australia.
It was discovered by geologists in 1978 who discovered diamonds
while prospecting in Smoke Creek. A year later, a massive,
diamond-studded deposit of lamproite (as opposed to the more
common kimberlite) ore was discovered. The mine was constructed
between 1982 and 1985 with alluvial mining starting in 1983 and
open mining starting two years later. Because Argyle is located
185 kilometres by road from the nearest settlement (Kununurra),
a residential camp was constructed on site to house most of the
520 workers. Most of these men and women commute from Perth,
over 2,000 kilometres and alternate two week shifts at the mine.
Argyle is the largest diamond producer in the world by volume,
but is not the leader b