The Internatsionalnoye Diamond Field was discovered in 1969. It is located 15 kilometers to the southwest of the City of Mirny. This kimberlite body is a subvertical and oval ore body, with known reserves to a depth of 1220 meters. Diamond extraction at the Internatsionalnoye Field using the open-cut method started in 1971. In 1980, the opencast mine reached a depth of 284 meters and mining was suspended until 2008. The mine is currently being renovated.

Construction of the underground mine started in the mid-1970s. Diamonds from the Internatsionalnoye Field are unique in their gem quality and are highly valued on the international market.

The field was opened using two centrally-split pit shafts. The cage shaft is 6.5 meters in diameter with a depth of 1065 meters, and designated for lowering and raising personnel, cargo, equipment and feeding fresh air into the mine. The skip shaft is 5.5 meters in diameter with a depth of 1025 meters, and is designated for output of mined rock, raising personnel in emergency situations, feeding fill mix into pipelines and air output. The shafts were tunneled using a special method with freezing the subsoil using the drill-and-blast and continuous methods. The development system used for the pipe is chamber-solid with consolidating stowing.

In 1999, the field’s start-up complex was commissioned, and the underground mine opened on July 19, 2002, which was a tremendous achievement for Alrosa in view of the uniqueness of the construction of the underground mine in the given climatic conditions. The mine is an entire city on the surface and a web of structures underground. Among the surface industrial and household facilities is the 75-foot tower of the skip pit head. The mine is currently running at design capacity – 500,000 tonnes. Given such an extraction rate of known reserves (reserves have been explore to a depth of 1220 meters), there will be enough work for 27 years. The measurements of the ore body of the Internatsionalnoye field within the development boundaries are 90х55 meters.