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Diamonds are formed as an allotrope of the element carbon, at depths greater than 90 miles. The pressure and heat at this depth is critical to the formation of the diamonds that are mined at the surface today. At crustal pressures, the stable form of carbon is the allotrope graphite. Diamond was transported to the surface by supersonic volcanic eruptions that carried molten rock material from the mantle that contained diamond and other mantle minerals. Diamond is not formed from metamorphosed coal, and most diamonds discovered on the surface in mining operations are at least one billion years old; some may be two or three times that age. Diamond can also be formed from the pressures of high speed impacts of meteors with the Earth, but these are more of scientific interest, having no economic usefulness due to their small size and dispersion.

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