Diamond mines are concentrated in a handful of countries, with Russia, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, and South Africa producing 99% of the world’s natural industrial diamonds. These five nations dominate because their geology includes ancient continental cores, called cratons, that store diamonds deep underground and deliver them to the surface through volcanic eruptions.
How Diamonds Reach the Surface
Diamonds form roughly 150 to 200 kilometers below Earth’s surface, stored in the thick roots of the oldest parts of continents. They get carried upward by a specific type of volcanic magma that, when it cools, becomes a rock called kimberlite. Kimberlite is by far the most common diamond-bearing rock, forming vertical, carrot-shaped structures called pipes. Miners in South Africa historically described the material as crumbling yellowish earth near the surface, turning into a harder, slaty blue-green material at depth, which they called “blue ground.”
A second rock type, lamproite, can also carry diamonds, but diamond-bearing lamproites are far rarer. Only about four or five are known worldwide. One of the most famous was the Argyle mine in Western Australia, which operated for 37 years before closing in November 2020.
Not all diamond deposits sit inside volcanic pipes. Rivers erode kimberlite over millions of years and carry diamonds downstream, creating alluvial deposits in riverbeds and along coastlines. These secondary deposits are especially important in central and west Africa, and along Namibia’s Atlantic coast.
Africa’s Major Diamond Regions
Botswana is home to some of the world’s most productive mines. The Jwaneng Mine, in the Kgalagadi District, produced an estimated 11.86 million carats in 2023, making it one of the highest-output mines on the planet. The Orapa Mine, in the Central District, opened in 1971 as the country’s first major diamond operation and produced 9.02 million carats in 2023. Two smaller mines, Letlhakane (opened 1975) and Damtshaa (opened 2003), sit nearby, along with the newer Karowe mine, which opened in 2012. Botswana’s total diamond production was valued at $3.7 billion in 2014, second only to Russia.
Angola is rapidly growing as a diamond producer. The Catoca Mine in the Lunda Sul province produced 6.42 million carats in 2023, and the newer Luele mine, which opened in 2023, ramped up production significantly by 2025. Together, Catoca and Luele account for over 90% of Angola’s output. The country’s estimated reserves exceed 732 million carats, valued at over $140 billion.
South Africa, where the modern diamond industry began in the 1860s, still produces around 4 million carats annually. Zimbabwe matches that figure. The Democratic Republic of Congo produces roughly 7 million carats per year, largely from alluvial deposits. Lesotho punches above its weight: the Kao Mine in the Butha-Buthe district produced an estimated 13.31 million carats in 2023, the highest single-mine output recorded that year.
Russia’s Arctic Diamond Fields
Russia is the world’s leading diamond producer, mining roughly 16 million carats of natural industrial diamond in 2024, about 41% of global output. Nearly all of this comes from the Sakha Republic, also known as Yakutia, a vast region in eastern Siberia. The Jubilee Mine there produced an estimated 6.03 million carats in 2023. Yakutia’s kimberlite pipes were discovered in the 1950s, and the region remains one of the most diamond-rich areas on Earth, though its extreme climate makes mining especially challenging, with winter temperatures dropping below minus 40 degrees.
Canada’s Subarctic Mines
Canada became a significant diamond producer in the late 1990s, with mining concentrated in the Northwest Territories. The Ekati and Diavik mines sit about 320 kilometers northeast of Yellowknife and just 200 kilometers south of the Arctic Circle. Both are visible in satellite imagery as large open pits carved into the tundra landscape, with Diavik extending into a lake. These remote operations require ice roads for resupply during winter months. Rio Tinto, which operated the Argyle mine in Australia, also sources diamonds from its Canadian operations.
Namibia’s Offshore Operations
Namibia hosts a unique form of diamond mining that takes place on the ocean floor. Diamonds washed into the Atlantic Ocean over millions of years settled in submarine deposits along the coast between the towns of Lüderitz and Oranjemund. The first sea-floor diamonds were recovered in shallow waters off Namibia’s coast over 110 years ago, and today the country is the world’s technological leader in marine diamond mining. Specialized vessels use crawlers and drills to extract diamond-bearing gravel from the seabed. This stretch of coastline ranks among the most important diamond-producing areas globally.
Australia’s Closed Argyle Mine
The Argyle mine in Western Australia’s remote Kimberley region was one of the world’s largest diamond producers and the biggest source of natural colored diamonds, including the extremely rare pink and red varieties that became collector’s items. Mining ceased in November 2020 after 37 years of operation. Rio Tinto is now rehabilitating the site, with infrastructure removal, landform reshaping, and revegetation expected to finish in 2026, at which point the land will be returned to its traditional custodians. The company retained the Argyle Pink Diamond brand and continues to place the final cache of rare stones through annual tenders.
Diamond Mines in the United States
The United States has no active commercial diamond mines. The only location where you can currently mine for diamonds is the Crater of Diamonds State Park near Murfreesboro in Pike County, Arkansas. It’s a pay-to-dig operation where visitors pay a small daily fee, search through the soil of an eroded lamproite volcanic structure, and keep any diamonds they find. It’s the only diamond mine in the world open to the public.
The site was worked as a commercial mine by several operators in the early 1900s but closed because the deposit wasn’t profitable enough for industrial-scale extraction. The only other U.S. location with commercial diamond mining history is the Kelsey Lake Mine near Fort Collins, Colorado, on the Colorado-Wyoming border. It produced small quantities of diamonds between 1996 and 2002 before closing due to legal problems rather than a lack of diamonds.
Lab-Grown Diamond Production
Synthetic industrial diamonds now dwarf natural production in sheer volume, with worldwide output exceeding 15.5 billion carats, compared to roughly 39 million carats of natural industrial diamonds. China leads synthetic production, followed by the United States and Russia. These three countries account for about 99% of the world’s manufactured industrial diamonds. While these aren’t “mines” in the traditional sense, they represent where the vast majority of industrial-grade diamonds actually originate today.