Second largest excavated hole in the world

Mirny Mine the Second largest excavated hole in the world.

The Mine is so deep that airspace above the mine is closed for helicopters because of a few incidents in which they were sucked in by the downward air flow.

Mirny Mine is a former open pit diamond mine, now inactive, located in Mirny, Eastern Siberia, Russia.

The development of the mine had started in 1957 in extremely harsh climate conditions. Seven months of winter per year froze the ground, which made it hard to mine in the winter, but turned into sludge in summer. Buildings had to be raised on piles, so that they would not sink in summer, and the main processing plant had to be built on a better ground found 20 km away from the mine. The winter temperatures were so low that car tires and steel would shatter and oil would freeze. During the winter, the workers used jet engines to thaw and dig out the permafrost or blasted it with dynamite to get access to the underlying kimberlite. The entire mine had to be covered at night to prevent the machinery from freezing.