Located in north-west Australia, Argyle is the world’s largest miner of pink diamonds. It was in 1979 that the first hint of the largest diamond mine in the world became known. Geologists discovered a diamond pipe in the crater of an extinct volcano. The diamond pipe, now known as the AK1 pipe, was almost two kilometres long, up to 600-metres wide and 45 hectares in area. By 1983 a detailed evaluation revealed the area contained reserves of 415 million carats of diamonds. It was a coup for CRA and Ashton Mining, and so began the story of the Argyle diamond. Since 1986 the Argyle Diamond Mine has been producing more diamonds than any other mine in the world. Yet, only a small percentage of these are rare pink diamonds.