Kimberlite and Labordorite

What is Kimberlite and Lamproite - it’s a volcanic rock that frequently contain crystals and other minerals.

Kimberlite is named after the town of Kimberley in South Africa, where diamonds were first mined in the 1870's and some of the world's largest diamonds are still produced today.

Lamproite is a volcanic rock and extremely high content of incompatible minerals including diamonds.  Lamproite are geographically widespread but insignificantly in terms of volume.  Unlike Kimberlite which are found exclusively in Archaean cratons, lamproites are found in terrains of varying age. Lamproite form at depths exceeding 150 km and molten material is forced from the surface in volcanic pipes bringing with it xenoliths and diamonds.

The Australian mines is lamproite pipes and have no indicator minerals.  Lamproite deposits have only two localities: Argyle in Australia and Udachnaya in Russia.


Kimberley pipes are the primary source of diamonds. It is an ultra high pressure rock.

Kimberlite - It’s an igneous rock named after the town Kimberley in South Africa, as it’s best known for sometimes containing diamonds.  It originates 150 km below the earth’s surface where diamonds are formed.  Kimberlite pipes are the cores of volcanoes that lie on top of older rocks. Diamonds are transported to the surface by volcanic activity in “pipes” of kimberlite.


Kimberlite - Is a rare, igneous rock volcanic rock named after the town Kimberley in South Africa, as it’s best known for sometimes containing diamonds. Basically, it's a volcanic pipe that contains diamonds which are brought to the earth's surface very rapidly at 2-3 hrs to the earth's crust.

Kimberlite is a relatively rare type of lava. It comes from depths as great as 300 to 350 kilometers. On its way to the surface, kimberlite frequently picks up rock and mineral fragments, including diamonds, one of which can be seen in this sample. In fact, kimberlite is the main source of diamonds. Diamonds are the deepest-known objects from the Earth’s interior.


It is not a resistant rock. It breaks up easily and has the deepest origin of any volcanic rock.


It originates 150 km below the earth’s surface where diamonds are formed. Kimberlite pipes are the cores of volcanoes that lie on top of older rocks. Diamonds are transported to the surface by volcanic activity in “pipes” of kimberlite.

Yellow ground is soft weather Kimberlite and Blue ground is harder bluish unweathered kimberlite.