Diamonds in Canada

PostBy Avi Paz Group At 15.08.2010

The 1991 announcement that diamonds had been discovered in Canada's Northwest Territories province created what has become one of the largest diamond producing industries in the world. According to the 2009 Kimberley Process Annual Global Survey, Canada is the fifth-largest producer of rough diamonds in the world by volume (10.9 million carats) and the second-largest producer by value ($1.47 billion, second only to Russia).

Geologists Charles Fipke and Stewart Blusson spent a decade searching for diamonds in the Canadian Arctic, firm in their belief that the geology north of Yellow Knife fit the profile for kimberlites. Fipke and Blusson's labors paid off at Lac de Gras, and the Ekati Diamond Mine – the first in Canada – was established at that site. Fipke and Blusson each own a 10% interest in the mine, the rest belonging to BHP Billiton Canada Inc.  From 1998 to 2009, the Ekati Mine produced 45 million carats of rough diamonds out of six open pits. As continued mining depleted the surface-level ore, the mine was renovated to allow for underground mining. 

Other Canadian diamond mines include the Snap Lake Diamond Mine, the first one in the country to be mined completely underground; Ontario's Victor Diamond Mine; and the defunct Jericho Diamond Mine in the extreme northern territory of Nunavut. In July 2010, Shear Minerals Ltd. purchased the Jericho Mine and current estimates put its production potential at 375,000 carats of rough diamonds per year, a value of $24.5 million.

Mountain Province Diamonds has reported favorably on findings at the Gahcho Kue site, also in Canada's Northwest Territories, and is moving ahead with plans to establish a fully operational mine at the site. In Quebec, the kimberlite pipes at the Renard Project, a joint venture by the Stornoway Diamond Corporation and SOQUEM INC. a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Québec government's main industrial and financial holding company, have yielded promising results.