March 25, 2025

Abandoned Diamond Mines: The Scars of Luxury

Beneath the flawless sparkle of a hand-cut diamond, we often forget what’s left behind. Once the last carat is extracted, what becomes of the land that gave it life? Abandoned diamond mines—often absent from the jewelry narrative—leave behind a silent yet devastating legacy. In an era of more responsible luxury, it’s essential to understand what still lies beneath the brilliance of a stone.

What are the different types of diamond mines?

Diamond extraction relies on several methods:

Open-pit mines: Vast craters dug into the earth, visible from space, such as the one in Mirny, Russia.
Underground mines: Deep tunnels following kimberlite veins, used notably in Botswana and Canada.
Alluvial mining: Diamond extraction from riverbeds, very common in West Africa and often carried out by artisanal miners.
Marine mining: Dredging of the ocean floor off the coast of Namibia, extremely disruptive to marine ecosystems.

While each extraction method has its own technical specificities, they all share one common point: their lasting impact on landscapes and local communities.

The Closure of a Mine: A Misleading End

A diamond mine ceases operations when it is deemed unprofitable or the deposit is depleted. On average, the lifespan of an industrial mine ranges from 10 to 30 years, depending on the size of the deposit. However, the end of extraction does not mean the end of its consequences. On the contrary, it often marks the beginning of a long process of abandonment, leaving behind a deeply disrupted environment.

Landscapes once rich in biodiversity are left scarred. Open-pit mines, visible from space like the one in Mirny, Russia, leave behind gaping craters. Soils become sterile, groundwater is contaminated, and diverted rivers never fully return to their natural course. Chemicals such as cyanide, chlorine, or hydrocarbons used during extraction seep into the ground, rendering the land unfit for agriculture and natural regeneration.

Major Social Consequences

Mines, especially in rural areas, often shape entire local economies. Their closure creates a deep human and economic fracture:

Massive job losses for local populations
Collapse of the regional economy, with shops, schools, and services shutting down
Forced migration to other mining zones or urban centers
Abandonment of infrastructure: collapsed buildings, unsecured shafts, persistent pollution

Some former mining areas, like Kolmanskop in Namibia or Kleinzee in South Africa, have turned into ghost towns—sometimes reoccupied by illegal miners risking their lives in search of forgotten stones (Source: NPR).

A Heavy Environmental Legacy

Abandoned diamond mines leave behind:

Gaping craters or artificially leveled land
Long-lasting soil and water pollution
Severe biodiversity loss: displacement of animal species, destruction of habitats, and ecological imbalances
Landscapes unable to recover without human intervention

These mining sites become dead zones—unusable and scarred by ecological damage that is sometimes irreversible.

Post-Mine Rehabilitation: A Costly Exception

Some mining companies claim to implement rehabilitation programs—reforestation, water treatment, or transforming former mines into parks or artificial lakes. However, these efforts remain the exception. They are expensive, time-consuming, and often incomplete. In countries with weak environmental regulations, such commitments frequently remain unfulfilled.

A report by the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining states that less than 25% of abandoned mining sites receive long-term environmental monitoring. The rest are left open, polluted, and hazardous—posing risks of collapse, disease, and social exclusion for nearby communities.

Kolmanskop, Namibia — abandoned in 1956 after diamond reserves in the surrounding area were exhausted.
(Source: Photo by Max Murauer on Unsplash)

Towards Scar-Free Luxury: Choosing Lab-Grown Diamonds

At AGUAdeORO, we have made the conscious decision to not take part in the destructive cycle of traditional diamond mining. Our jewelry is exclusively set with lab-grown diamonds, created under ethical and fully traceable conditions.

These diamonds share the same qualities as mined ones — identical chemical composition, brilliance, and durability — but without the environmental degradation, human displacement, or ecosystem destruction.

True luxury leaves no trace

A piece of jewelry should never be synonymous with devastation. At AGUAdeORO, we believe in ethical and sustainable fine jewelry, where each creation reflects not only beauty, but also the values of those who wear it.

Abandoned mines are the scars of a bygone era of luxury. Ours looks to the future — one illuminated by gems that shine without harming the earth.

AGUAdeORO is a Swiss jewelry house founded in 2009, with boutiques in Geneva and Zurich. We offer clients the opportunity to acquire ethical fine jewelry crafted in Switzerland, committed to combining sustainable development with timeless elegance.