It is hard to believe that this beautiful, brilliant stone in your ring was once sitting in the ground, is not it? But it was and there are quite a few diamonds still in reality around 120 million carats diamonds mined each year. There are currently two methods of mining diamonds: Pipe Mining and Alluvial Mining.
The Alluvial mining method occurs on beaches and in riverbeds. When using this method, water and sand on the bank are held back with man-made walls, or a bulldozer is used to move the beach until the level of earth containing diamonds is reached. The diamonds are not sorted right there, instead of sand, which are the diamonds in the loaded into trucks and taken to screening plants.
With tubes mining, the diamonds are mined from the earth through volcanic pipes. These tubes are natural - not man made. Shanks are put into the ground next to these pipes, and then tunnels are driven into the deepest parts of the pipe. Using this method, giant rocks that are full of diamonds were taken out of the mine, and then moved to the screening of plants for sorting.
There are many diamond mines in operation around the world. Some of the major ones include:
The world's largest Orapa diamond mine is located 240 km west of Francistown. This mine is owned by a named partnership between the Government of Botswana and Debe "Debswana". Mine is working 7 days a week and is the oldest, owned by Debswana. It gives schools for its employees' children and a hospital and game parks. Orapa began production in 1971.
The Argue we slocated mine in the Kimberley region in Western Australia. Owned by Rio Tinto, this mine has the honor of being the world's largest producer of volume of diamonds. Unfortunately, there is a low proportion of gem quality diamonds, so it is not the value leader. This means, however, produces 90-95% of the world supply of pink diamonds.
Diavik is another mine owned by Rio Tinto and is located in Canada. It is on an island north of Yellowknife and south of the Artic Circle. The island, connected to an ice road is an important part of the regional economy and employs more than 700 people. This mine produces more than 8 million carats annually.
Ekati diamond mine is located south of the Arctic Circle in Northwest Territories in Canada and is owned by BHP Billiton. The Ekati is Canada's first operational diamond mine and the diamonds are sold under the trade name Auria.
The Baken diamond mine is located in South Africa along the lower Orange River. It is owned and operated by Trans Hex. The average size stone for 2004 was 1.29 carats. In 2004 this mine produced a 78.9 carat D color flawless diamond that sold for more than 1.8 million U.S. dollars (U.S.), as well as a 27.67 pink diamond that was sold for over 1 million U.S. dollars.
The largest diamond ever produced by the Premier Mine in Cullinan, South Africa in 1905. Named The Cullinan Diamond weighed a whopping 3,106.75 carats. The same mine also produced the Golden Jubilee diamond which weighed in at 545.67 carats. In 2003 this mine, owned by De Beers renamed the Cullinan Diamond Mine.
mining, the diamonds are mined from the earth through volcanic pipes. These tubes are natural - not man made. Shanks are put into the ground next to these pipes, and then tunnels are driven into the deepest parts of the pipe. Using this method, giant rocks that are full of diamonds were taken out of the mine, and then moved to the screening of plants for sorting. 
