TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Diamond-miner De Beers Canada will lay off 128 employees and 90 contractors at its Snap Lake mine, in Canada's Northwest Territories, as it slows production to meet weakened demand for rough diamonds, the firm said on Tuesday.

The company has already reduced production at Snap Lake, as well as the Victor mine, in Ontario, and reduced capital spending at the operations.

However, the measures taken in 2008 “are no longer enough to keep ahead with the current condition of the market”, said senior vice-president for operations Chantal Laoie.

The two Canadian mines were De Beers' first operations outside the Southern Hemisphere.

“This is a very difficult, but necessary business decision, as we respond to the changing client demand for diamonds in the short term,” De Beers Canada president and CEO Jim Gowans said in a statement.

De Beers announced in January that it plans to cut as many as 1 415 positions across the group, and Debswana, which is a joint venture between the diamond giant and the government of Botswana, said on Monday it would halt all operations until at least April 14, to conserve cash and try align supply with slowing demand.

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