Diamonds Aren't Forever

Deep in the Australian outback, the Argyle mine has produced the world’s most spectacular pink stones. But as the last of them are extracted, what will the future hold for these coveted gems?

It was the anthills that confirmed their suspicions, glinting inexplicably under the harsh sun of the Australian outback. The geologists had explored the land for a decade, suspecting there might be something precious lurking under the barren, sun-baked earth. Trekking through the outback on foot, they squinted more closely at those sparkling flecks. They were diamonds, shards that the insects had inadvertently ferried to the surface from a deposit, or pipe, below.

What even that team of seasoned diamond hunters couldn’t have guessed then was the size of the seam they’d identified, a few kilometres south of Lake Argyle. When formal operations began in 1983, four years after the initial find, the diamonds from this single mine virtually doubled world production overnight. Named in the lake’s honour, the Argyle mine has produced 865 million carats of rough in the four decades since. Where the shimmering anthills once stood as the only sign of life, there is now a vast gash in the red-brown earth, with steep, stepped walls carved by the mine.