Russia possesses the largest reserves of impact diamonds — rare crystals formed after a meteorite strike millions of years ago. Antonina Levashenko, Head of International Best Practices Analysis Department at the Gaidar Institute, told “Prime” agency about this.
We are talking about the Popigai Crater in the Krasnoyarsk Krai — the world’s largest deposit of impact diamonds. According to the Russian Federation’s State Reserve Balance for 2025, just two of the crater’s explored sections — Skalnoe and Udarnoye — contain approximately 268 billion carats of such diamonds. This is approximately 126 times more than Russia’s total reserves of conventional natural diamonds.
Impact diamonds formed about 35 million years ago following the impact of a large meteorite. Under the influence of extreme pressure and temperature, graphite-bearing rocks transformed into a special variety of superhard crystals. Unlike classic diamonds, they are usually opaque and unsuitable for the jewelry industry, but they possess valuable industrial properties.
“Impact diamonds are a unique strategic resource. They are characterized by high abrasiveness, resistance to wear, and tolerance to extreme temperatures. Thanks to these properties, such materials are particularly promising for high-tech industries — from drilling technologies and metallurgy to the production of superhard coatings and high-precision equipment. In fact, Russia possesses a resource that is virtually unmatched in scale anywhere in the world today,” noted Antonina Levashenko.
According to her, interest in impact diamonds may grow alongside the development of industry and technologies for processing complex materials, where ultra-strong and heat-resistant components are particularly in demand.