Ellendale Diamond Field

<p>

The Ellendale Diamond Field is a cluster of diamond producing <a href="/facts/Lamproite/V739vCuA">lamproite</a> intrusions located 125 km ESE of <a href="/facts/Derby%2c_Western_Australia/2xppSCsj">Derby</a> within the WNW trending Lennard Shelf to the south of the Kimberley Block in the <a href="/facts/West_Kimberley/U26LpmEh">West Kimberly</a> region of Australia. Ellendale's volcanic lamproite pipes intruded during the <a href="/facts/Miocene/cBRRzq4g">Miocene</a> age between 22 and 19 Ma, and 48 lamproites have been mapped within the northwest-trending 1500-square-kilometre (60 x 25 km) field.  More than 100 lamproite intrusions are known over a wider 7500 km2 area surrounding the Ellendale swarm. Some 45 of the Ellendale intrusives are volcanic crater deposits, while 3 are classed as volcanic sills. The lamproites are either <a href="/facts/Leucite/l1uVJHtm">leucite</a> or <a href="/facts/Olivine/tLLL4rae">olivine</a> rich, with 60% being diamondiferous.
</p><p>The first Ellendale pipe was identified in 1976 with diamonds mostly mined from 2 open pit hard-rock mines at the Ellendale 4 (E4) and Ellendale 9 (E9) lamprorite pipes.  Although of low grade (5 to 14 carats per hundred ton), these mines were characterised by a high proportion (75–90%) of gem-quality stones, including colourless, fancy yellow, green and brown diamonds. In 2023, following several years of exploration and resource definition, Australian owned private junior miner, India Bore Diamond  Holdings Pty Ltd (IBDH) became the first company to officially re-commence licensed mining operations at Ellendale since 2015. The company is targeting a newly discovered alluvial deposit at the southern end of the Ellendale Diamond Field.
</p>

Ellendale Diamond Field open-in-new

Ellendale Diamond Field