The planned diamond prospecting in China began at 1952, when the prospecting target was diamond placer in rivers. 1952 to 1953, the Ministry of Geology sent an expert group to investigate the Yishu River basin in Shandong Province. 1953, the Geological Department established the Shui Yuan Geological Team of Hunan (later renamed Hunan 4 13 Geological Team) to carry out the general survey and prospecting of diamond placer in Shui Yuan Valley of Hunan. By 1967, four diamond placers have been discovered in Changde, Hunan. During the period of 1957, the Ministry of Geology established the Shandong Yishuhe Geological Team (later renamed as the 809 Geological Team) in Shandong Province, and conducted a diamond survey in the Yishuhe River Basin and Jiaodong area of Shandong Province, and successively discovered five diamond sand deposits, including Yuquan and Chenjiabu. 1964, the Ministry of Geology held the first national diamond professional geological work conference in Linyi, Shandong Province, and put forward a new round of general survey and prospecting focusing on finding primary diamonds. 1965, the geological team of Guizhou Geological Bureau 10 1 discovered the diamond-bearing rock mass "Dongfeng 1" in Zhenyuan, East Guizhou. In August of the same year, Shandong 809 Geological Team discovered the first kimberlite diamond primary deposit with industrial value in China-"Hongqi 1" in Changmazhuang, Mengyin. In the following years, more than 60 kimberlite bodies were discovered in Shandong, including the famous "Shengli No.1". 197 1 June, based on the ore reported by the masses, kimberlite was discovered by Liaoning province and provincial teams, and then the Sixth Geological Brigade of Liaoning made a major breakthrough in diamond prospecting. Up to 1986, three ore belts and more than 100 kimberlite bodies have been discovered in Wafangdian area, and four primary diamond deposits and three sand deposits with industrial value have been submitted, including No.30, No.42, No.50 and No.51-68-74. The discovery and exploration of primary diamond deposits and placers in Liaoning, Shandong and Hunan provinces constitute the basic pattern of diamond mineral resources in China. Diamond, kimberlite and K-Mg lamprophyre have been discovered in 17 provinces in three ancient cratons in China. The main results are shown in figure 1- 1.
Origin of diamond-bearing kimberlite with industrial value: Mengyin, Shandong, Wafangdian, Liaoning;
Diamond placers with industrial value: Changde in Hunan, Linyi in Shandong and Wafangdian in Liaoning;
Kimberlite and suspected kimberlite exposed provinces: Shandong, Liaoning, Jilin, Hebei, Shanxi, Henan and Xinjiang;
Provinces where K-Mg lamprophyres are exposed: Guizhou, Hunan, Hubei and Guangxi;
The provinces with diamond-related rock bodies are Jilin, Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Shanxi, Jiangsu, Anhui, Xinjiang, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan and Tibet.
Since the 1960s, the Ministry of Geology (later Geological Bureau of the State Planning Commission, State Geological Administration, Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources and China Geological Survey) has organized and carried out systematic and large-scale diamond primary ore prospecting in China, and made a major breakthrough in prospecting. This book will focus on the history of diamond exploration in Hunan, Guizhou, Shandong and Liaoning.
Fig. 1- 1 distribution map of kimberlite and lamprophyre in China.