The discovery of detrital diamond crystals during small-scale, gold-pitting operations by local Uighur people in the Hotien district of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in western China, has stimulated the Chinese Authorities' interest and led to funding of a prospecting feasibility project by scientists from the China University of Geosciences, Beijing.
The researchers were fortunate to obtain a swathe of stereoscopic Large Format Camera photographs of the Hotien district from a Space Shuttle mission and a digital elevation model (DEM) made from these photographs proved to be of great use in an area where access to good quality topographical maps is not easily possible (Figure 4).