The oldest diamond in the world, 3.6 billion years old, was found in Yakutia.
A small diamond from the rocks of the Udachnaya kimberlite pipe has become the oldest diamond in the world known to scientists.
“The diamond we discovered is apparently the oldest one studied to date, the age of the sulfide inclusion syngenetic to this diamond is estimated at approximately 3.6 billion years,” explained Nikolai Pokhilenko, head of the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The diamond has a size of 0.3 mm.
The Udachnaya pipe is a diamond deposit in the north of Yakutia. It is located 20 kilometers from the Arctic Circle, in the Daldyn-Alakit kimberlite field.
The pipe was discovered in June 1955 by V.N. Shchukin as part of the prospecting work of the Amakinskaya geological exploration expedition. Later, for the industrial production of diamonds, the settlement (now the city) Udachny and Mining and Processing Plant (GOK) was built nearby.