Gold, Diamonds or Rubies Trivia Quiz

Answer: Gold

The Grasberg Mine in Papua on the Island of New Guinea in Indonesia is one of the top producers of gold in the world. The mine also produces copper and silver. The mine is both open pit and underground. It was opened in 1972 and has one of the largest reserves of gold, silver, and copper in the world. According to visualcapitalist.com, in 2021 it was the third biggest producer of gold that year at 1.4 million ounces.

Answer: Diamond

The Venetia Diamond Mine has been South Africa's largest producer of diamonds since 1995. It is located in the Limpopo province and lies within the Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve, which is owned by the De Beers Diamond Mining Company. It produced 4.2 million carats of diamonds in 2018. It has been in production since 1992. It was an open pit mine until 2021 and has switched to underground mining operations. It is expected to continue to produce into 2044.

The Kimberley Mine, aka the Big Hole, was the result of the discovery of a 83.5 carat diamond called the Star of South Africa in 1869. This discovery led to a diamond rush and the open pit mine. Manual labor was used for the initial mining and working conditions were deadly. From 1871 to 1914 up to 50,000 miners worked the site under deplorable conditions. The Kimberley Mine gave the name to the igneous rock that diamonds are found in and around which most diamond mines are formed - kimberlite pipes.

Answer: Gold

Nevada's official nickname is "The Silver State" because of the role the precious metal played in the early development of the state. The Comstock Lode outside of Virginia City was one of the biggest deposits of silver discovered in the 1800s.

The gold found in Nevada was of low grade and the mines were small and inefficient. It was not until the Carlin Trend in Eureka County was discovered in the 1960s and the price of gold rose in the 1970s that the precious metal became profitable for large scale mining. Open pit gold mining was pioneered in the region and by 2002 over 50 million troy ounces of gold had been produced, making it by far the largest producer of gold in the US. The Goldstrike Mine alone has produced over 43 million ounces of gold in the last 30 years. Also located in Eureka County is the Cortez Gold Mine. This mine is both open pit and underground. According to visualcapitalist.com, Nevada was the world's largest producer of gold in 2021, producing over 3.3 million ounces that year.

Answer: Diamond

The Ekati Diamond Mine is a series of mines and is located in the Northwest Territories. It began operations in 1998. It is both open pit and underground mines. Six open pit mines were originally in operation: Beartooth, Fox, Koala, Koala North, Misery and Panda. Three of these also had underground components: Koala, Koala North, and Panda. Currently Lynx, Pigeon, and Sable are open pit mines and Koala is an underground operation. Between 1998 and 2009 40 million carats had been produced. Currently, approximately 7.5 million carats a year are produced. (Source: mining-technology.com and Wikipedia.com)

Answer: Gold

The Boddington Mine is located in Western Australia 18 km (8 miles) outside of the town of Boddington. The mine produces both gold and copper. Originally open in 1987, it shut down in 2001 when the currently known resource had been depleted. New bedrock deposits were found and the mine reopened in 2010. According to some sources it has become Australia's largest gold mine and one of the top 5 overall in the world.

The Fimiston Open Pit, aka the Super Pit, is located in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia along the Goldfields Highway. Mining in the area began in 1893 as many underground mines but by 1989 the area had been turned into one large open pit mine, the largest in Australia at that time. By 2016, it was surpassed by the Boddington Mine.

Answer: Gold

Olimpiada is Russia's biggest operating gold mine and one of the top five mines in the world. The deposits were discovered in 1975 with mining beginning in the 1980s. It produced 1.32 million ounces in 2018, 1.38 million ounces in 2019, 1.2 million ounces in 2021, and 0.935 million in 2022 (sources: miningtechnology.com, visualcapitalist.com, wikipedia.com). It is an open pit mine.

Answer: Ruby

Burmese rubies were for centuries the main source of the world's rubies. They were prized for their color, clarity, and hardness and are still considered by many to be the standard in the industry. Mogôk itself was claimed to have been founded in 1217 by three lost Shan hunters who found rubies at the base of a collapsed mountain, Kyee Arr Thang.

When the British gained control in the late 1800s one of their first goals was to open up the areas ruby mines for British merchants. By the 1990s, the Möng Hsu area became the premiere supplier of Burmese rubies.

Answer: Ruby

Thailand has traditionally been a hub of the ruby trade for centuries. Although the mines in the Chanthaburi region have been depleted, the area maintains its leading status in the ruby industry by processing the gems from neighbouring Pailin, Cambodia and other countries. Whether these gems come into the country legally or illegally is questionable but the fact that Thailand remains a major source of rubies is not.

Answer: Diamond

Aikhal is located in Sakha (Yakutia) in Russia and is the world's largest diamond mine. It is estimated to have reserves of over 40 million carats with capacity to produce 1.3 million carats yearly. Mining began as open pit in 1961. By 1997 the pit had reached a depth of 230 meters and the mine transitioned to underground mining. As of 2019, the underground extension is planned to reach a depth of 300 meters and keep the mine operating until 2044.

Udachny is also located in Sakha (Yakutia). The mine was discovered in 1955 and began operations in 1971. It is an open pit mine that has reached a depth of 630 meters, which makes it one of the 10 deepest open pit mines in the world. The mine was producing 10 million carats a year until 2011. In 2012 that number fell to 5.6 million and by 2013 it was down to 2.8 million. (Source: mining-technology.com)

Answer: Ruby

Mozambique is very new to the ruby market but the Montepuez Ruby Mine is now one of the world's largest producers of rubies. First discovered in 2009, large scale mining operations began in 2011 and within a decade Mozambique had become one of the largest suppliers of gem quality rubies in the world.

The Montepuez Ruby Mine is 75% foreign owned by Gemfields and 25% locally owned which has led to some civil unrest and accusations of human rights violations. Gemfields, however, maintains that that they are committed to socially and environmentally responsible mining.