[3] Mirny has an extreme subarctic climate, with short, warm summers, and long, severely cold winters.

Like much of interior Siberia, the climate is pretty dry, but summer sees significantly more precipitation than other times of the year.

It is an open pit mine, which, with the depth of 525 meters (1,722 ft) and a diameter of 1.25 kilometers (0.78 mi) is reckoned to be the second largest in the world.

[9][10] Production was stopped in 2004, and the mine was permanently closed in 2011, due to reduced recovery and the costs of working in the far northern climate.

Safety concerns have been raised about aircraft operations near to the open diamond mine; helicopters are forbidden to pass over the abandoned workings.