Purbeck Mineral and Mining Museum
After the closure of Eldon sidings all clay exports were via lorry. For several years the clay was carried from the mines across the A351 by trains to the "Lorry Drop". It was realised that the lorries could take the clay directly from the mines and the cost of maintaining a railway system avoided. The transhipment buildings were raised to accommodate the lorries beneath them and in the early 1970s the railway system sold partly into preservation and the rest scrapped. Use of narrow gauge railways continued underground at Norden No 6 & 7 mines until all mining operations ceased in 1999.
Diamond mining in India
As of 2017, there was one industrial-scale diamond mine in India, the Majhgawan mine, near the town of Panna, Madhya Pradesh. The deposit is in a kimberlite or lamproite pipe 6.5 ha in area, and yields 10 carats to the ton. Mining is done by an open pit, which was 85 m deep as of 2011. Exploration drilling has established that the pipe continues down to at least 330 m. The mine is owned by the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), employs 199 people, and has a productive capacity of 84,000 carats per year. The mine began regular production in 1967, and to date, has yielded slightly more than a million carats of diamonds.