The eastern Siberian mining town of Mirny is home to the second-largest excavated hole in the world. The Mir diamond mine operated for 54years, producing over 10 million carats (2tonnes) of diamonds per year at its operational peak in the 1960s. It was established in 1957, after geologists discovered traces of kimberlite, a rock known to sometimes contain diamonds. Once excavation was under way, the town of Mirny sprang up. Now closed, the Mir mine once employed 3600 people. Today the town's 37,000 inhabitants go about their lives next to a hole 525 metres deep and 1.2 kilometres wide. (The world's biggest excavated hole is the Bingham Canyon copper mine, Utah, which is 1 km deep and 4 km wide.)
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