TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The biggest mining company, BHP Billiton, on Monday said it had decided to push the button on a $323-million expansion at its Ekati diamond mine in Canada’s North West Territories.

The Misery openpit project will start production in 2015 and end in 2017, after having previously produced from 2001 to 2015, BHP Billiton said.

The company had already committed $29-million to the project last year, so that long-lead items could be moved along the ice road up to the mine this year.

BHP Billiton owns 80% of the Ekati mine, which started producing diamonds in 1998, and the operation accounts for 5% of global diamond sales by value, according to the company’s website.

Rio Tinto and Harry Winston’s Diavik diamond mine is also located in the North West Territories, as is De Beers' Snap Lake mine, which opened in 2008.
 

To subscribe to Mining Weekly's print magazine email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or buy now.