Title

V. L. Masaitis, V. T. Kirichenko, M. S. Mashchak, I. G. Fedorova

Impact deposits and placer diamonds of Popigai region (North Siberia)

Popigai diamond-bearing region on the north of Siberian platform, discovered in the 70s and 80s of the previous century, is associated with the ancient impact crater – a 100 km in diameter structure that formed 35.7 Ma ago. Exploration and other geological studies carried out by teams of specialists of the former Ministry of Geology allowed to evaluate, located within the region, unique resources of impact diamonds – a new, earlier unknown, economic mineral, and to establish possibilities for its industrial and scientific application. The impact diamonds occur as inclusions in impactites and as placers that formed due to impactites weathering. The demonstrated reserves of impact diamonds, contained within impactites and in placers, is many times larger than all combined resources of all known diamond deposits throughout world.
Key words: Popigai astrobleme, impactites, impact diamonds, placer diamonds.