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PUBLISHED:12:21 EST, 17 September 2012| UPDATED:12:39 EST, 17 September
Russia is about to start tapping into a huge source of diamonds that could supply the world market for the next 3,000 years.
Scientists estimate there are ‘trillions of carats’ lying beneath a 35million-year-old asteroid crater in Siberia – more than ten times the global stockpile.
The Kremlin has known about the reserves under the 62-mile-wide impact zone since the 1970s.
But it has kept it a secret until now because it was already reaping big profits in what back then was a heavily controlled market.
Hidden treasures: A aerial view of the 35-mile-wide Popigai Astroblem crater which contains enough diamonds to supply global markets for the next 3,000 years
In the money: The crater, in eastern Siberia, has been known about since the 1970s, but the Kremlin kept it a secret to exploit its already rich reserves of the precious stone
The Soviets had also been producing various artificial diamonds for industry which proved a lucrative enterprise.
Government officials finally gave scientists from the nearby Novosibirsk Institute of Geology and Mineralogy permission to lift the lid on the crater’s hidden gems in a meeting with journalists over the weekend.
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