Diavik, Northwest Territories
Photo by: Reuters
TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Canada’s largest diamond mine has reached the significant milestone of producing 100-million carats of rough diamonds since the mine started in 2003.
Simon Trott, MD of Rio Tinto Diamonds, Salt & Uranium, a 60/40 joint venture between mining major Rio Tinto and Canada’s Dominion Diamond Corp, praised the teams who helped make this happen safely and responsibly in some of the harshest operating conditions in the world.
Located on an island in a remote subarctic lake, and operated by Rio Tinto, Diavik produced mainly gem-quality diamonds destined for high-end jewellery in all major consumer markets worldwide.
About half of the mine’s 1 100 employees lived in Canada’s north, and one quarter of Diavik’s workforce was Aboriginal. The project had stirred significant local economic activity since 2003, seeing about C$6.8-billion being spent on goods and services to support the mine, of which more than 70% was with local firms – many of which were Aboriginal-owned, Rio advised.
The Diavik mine had four kimberlite pipes, three of which were in operation. The fourth pipe, A-21, had a ten-million-carat reserve and was being developed over four years for $350-million, with first production slated for late 2018. In 2015, Diavik produced 6.4-million carats, down 11.5% year-on-year, owing to processing plant pauses in the fourth quarter and the absence of stockpiled ore, relative to 2014.
PROJECT DEVELOPMENT
Dominion’s second asset, its 89%-owned Ekati mine, which was Canada’s first diamond mine, had produced about three-million carats in 2015, a 6.3% decrease over 2014, as the company transitioned the mine plan to focus on the Misery Main pipe.
Misery Main was a 14-million-carat reserve with first production reached during the first half this year. It was estimated to contribute four-million carats this year, which would substantially increase the mine’s output by 70% to an estimated 5.1-million carats in 2016.
Ekati’s Jay pipe, which was an 85-million-carat reserve, and was currently in the feasibility study stage, was expected to come on line in 2020. The Pigeon pipe, a three-million-carat reserve (and ten-million-carat resource), which began production in 2015, would fill the mine’s production gap between Misery Main and Jay in 2018 and 2019.
Dominion on Thursday announced that the Minister of Lands of the Government of the Northwest Territories Robert McLeod had accepted the recommendations of the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board, which stated that Ekati’s Jay project be approved, subject to certain mitigation measures being implemented, as described in the environmental assessment report.
Dominion, the world’s third-largest rough-diamond producer by value, advised that Jay was the most significant undeveloped deposit at Ekati. Jay alone had the potential to extend the mine life about 10 to 11 years beyond the current projected closure of Ekati.
The company expected to publish a feasibility study on the Jay project later this month.