Mirny Diamond Mine

2015-01-08T12:35:00+01:00

The second largest man-made hole in the world (surpassed only by the Bingham Copper Mine in Utah) is a diamond mine located on the outskirts of Mirny, a small town in eastern Siberia.

Excavation on the pit began in 1955, and today it is 1,722 feet (525 meters) deep, and 3,900 feet (1.25 kilometers) across. Stalin ordered construction of the mine to satisfy the Soviet Union's need for industrial-grade diamonds following the war.

The harsh, frozen Siberian landscape made working on the mine a difficult proposition at best. Jet engines were turned on the unyielding permafrost in order to melt it; when that failed, explosives were used. During its peak years of operation, the Mirny mine produced over 10 million carats of diamonds annually, a good percentage of which were gem-quality.

Although open pit mining has ceased here, mining work is continuing by underground methods. The massive 20-foot (6 meter) tall rock-hauling trucks that service the Mirny mine travel along a road that spirals down from the lip of the hole to its basin.

Though it has been said that the airspace above the mine is off-limits to helicopters, after "a few accidents when they were 'sucked in' by downward air flow," there is no evidence to substantiate the claim.

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The article originally published on atlasobscura.com

The Coldest Village on Earth

2014-12-24T12:45:00+01:00

If you think that winter has already come to your city, pictures from Oymyakon, the coldest village on Earth, might change your mind. With the lowest temperature of -67.7°C (-90°F), recorded in 1933, and the average for January being -50°C (-60°F), this village is the coldest permanently inhabited place on this planet. New Zealand-based photographer Amos Chapple decided to go on a two-day journey from Yakutsk, the coldest major city on Earth, to capture what everyday life is like in Oymyakon.

"I was wearing thin trousers when I first stepped outside into – 47 °C (-52°F). I remember feeling like the cold was physically gripping my legs, the other surprise was that occasionally my saliva would freeze into needles that would prick my lips", the photographer told to weather.com.

The photographer recalls that the hardest thing was not the cold itself, but that his camera's focus and zoom rings would occasionally freeze in place.

Update: Not all the photographs above were captured in the village of Oymyakon. Some of them were shot in Yakutsk.

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You can find more of Chapple's work over on his website.

This article is taken from boredpanda.com.

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Mirny Diamond Mine

The Coldest Village on Earth