The mine is so big and giat that the airspace above the mine is closed
for helicopters because of a few incidents in which they were sucked in
by the downward air flow.
Gigantic trucks (like the small dot pointed to above) can haul over 200
tons of material out of the mine at a time, winding up and down the
frightening spiral path that leads to the center of the mine.
The mine was discovered on June 13, 1955 by Soviet geologists Yuri
Khabardin, Ekaterina Elagina and Viktor Avdeenko during the large
Amakinsky Expedition in Yakut ASSR.
The development of the mine had started in 1957 in extremely harsh
climate conditions. Seven months of winter per year froze the ground
into permafrost, which was hard in winter, but turned into sludge in
summer.
This finding was the first success in the search for kimberlite in
Russia, after numerous failed expeditions of the 1940s and 1950s. For
this discovery, in 1957 Khabardin was given the Lenin Prize, which was
one of the highest awards in the Soviet Union.
The town is strictly off limits to outsiders without a special
permit and the authorities regard any foreigners with considerable
suspicion.
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