Russian Geographical Society prepares excursions to Popigai astroblem for diamonds
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Russian Geographical Society prepares excursions to Popigai astroblem for diamonds

September 04, 2023

Arctic tourists can feel like explorers.

#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The small northern Hatanga is already being called a rising tourist star, the gateway to the Arctic. And now the Russian Geographical Society is preparing a new journey to where the people’s path has not yet been trodden – to the epicenter of the Popigai astroblem. A magical cosmic place: the sky is in diamonds, and they are under your feet as well.

Not many Russians today know what Popigai is. This is a river, and a village, and a meteorite crater on the border of Yakutia and the Krasnoyarsk region. A huge asteroid hit here 36 million years ago, forming a 100-kilometer crater.

There was an explosion of colossal power, which for a second created a temperature of 4000 degrees and a pressure of 1.5 million atmospheres. Under these conditions, graphite crystals passed into a new modification, forming the so-called impact diamonds. They are not suitable for jewelry – too cloudy and too small, but there are a lot of them. These diamonds are so different in structure from all on Earth that there is a theory about their extraterrestrial origin.

There is still no exact answer to the question of how to develop these deposits. The nearest ‘civilization outpost’ is the village of Hatanga. There is a sea port, near the Northern Sea Route. But not everything is so simple, experts explain. Large vessels do not enter the Hatanga river – the fairway does not allow. It is necessary to reload everything at the river. As a result, the delivery of a kilogram of cargo to the village costs 250 rubles. But from Hatanga to Popigai is almost 300 kilometers. It turns out very expensive.

Until the mid-1940s, no one here suspected either an asteroid or diamonds. The crater was discovered in 1946, and the diamonds were found in the 1970s. It was made a secret. Although local residents recall that in the 1980s they were working there, drilling the ground, there was even a processing plant in Hatanga, where until 1994 they received diamond concentrate, from which diamonds were extracted at the metallurgical plant in Kerch. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, research and work on the search for diamonds at the Popigai crater were curtailed, and their results were declassified. The processing plant was closed.

“The Popigai river is a tributary of the Hatanga river”, says Nina Kovalchuk, an old-timer of Hatanga. “Initially, there is a situation is like this: the village of Popigai is in the upper reaches of the river, it was constantly flooded during the flood, people had to be evacuated. And they decided to move it to the lower reaches, much to the north. Many locals, Dolgans, could not get used to the new place: they used to live in the forest, but ended up in the tundra. Some stayed, some left. Over time, they got used to it, new generations grew up. The old people often went to the old village. But today no one lives in the old Popigai. Many locals don’t even know that there is an asteroid impact crater and that there are diamond deposits under their feet”.

“This is not mass tourism”, emphasizes Natalia Belyakova, the Russian Geographical Society’s expeditionary activities and tourism development department director. “It can be called popular science. And it is important for us that we do not lose the scientific track in this tourism”.

Nevertheless, it is decided not to hurry with this route. This year there will be no proposal for sure, and in the near future the Russian Geographical Society is considering the possibility of installing a mining module there, as in Kamchatka. Those wishing to visit the crater should have an alternative: depending on the physical form, state of health and financial capabilities, choose a helicopter to Popigai, an all-terrain vehicle or a hike. Each group should have a scientist who, on a journey to the Popigai meteorite crater, will explain to travelers what is under their feet. And Hatanga will be the base camp.

  “Here is a new airport with a 3 000-meter runway, 300 flying days a year. Also, an interesting history of the region, rivers, seaport. And there are people who want to live and develop here”, Igor Spiridenko, chairman of the Krasnoyarsk regional branch of the Russian Geographical Society, told RG.

Earlier, for the first time, a group of tourists from different cities of Russia made an air trip on a Mi-8 KrasAvia helicopter along the route Hatanga – Severnaya Zemlya.

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Text: Elena Popova, Photos: Olga Zaderyaka and Denis Kozhevnikov

September 04, 2023

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