CNN —Pink diamonds are extremely rare and coveted — a now-closed mine in Australia has been the source of 90% of the colored gemstones. The Argyle diamond mine is located in the remote Kimberley region in the far northeast of Western Australia. At Argyle, this process occurred around 1.8 billion years ago when Western Australia and Northern Australia collided, turning the once-colorless diamonds pink hundreds of miles below Earth’s crust. Pink diamonds from the Argyle diamond mine were formed when an ancient supercontinent was breaking up into fragments, according to a new study. This chain of events, according to the study, suggested that the junctures of ancient continents may be important for finding pink diamonds — and may guide exploration for other deposits.

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Persons: ”, Hugo Olierook, Curtin, John de Laeter, Murray Rayner, Murray Rayner Supercontinents, Argyle, ” Olierook, “ Organizations: CNN, Western, Argyle, Nature Communications, Northern Australia, Rio Tinto, “ Argyle Locations: Australia, Argyle, Perth, Kimberley, Western Australia, Northern