This view of the A418 open pit shows several of the mining benches as well as the access road that originally used to remove kimberlite ore from the pit and is now used for the underground workings. According to Kjarsgaard and Levinson (2002), the modern era of diamond exploration in Canada began in the early 1960s with the traditional search for the diamond “indicator minerals” (such as red Cr-rich pyrope garnet, green Cr-diopside, green olivine, black ilmenite and black Cr-spinel). This included a plant to process the kimberlite ore and recover the diamonds, office and accommodation buildings for several hundred staff, utilities (electric power and heat generation, water supply, and wastewater treatment), bulk fuel and explosive storage, a maintenance shop, a containment area for storing the processed kimberlite, and an airstrip capable of handling cargo and passenger aircraft. (2015) Rio Tinto publishes 17 select diamantaires for 2015. 83–123. Search GIA's library catalog of 57,000 books, 1,800 videos, 700 periodicals, and the renowned Cartier Rare Book Repository and Archive.

By closing this banner or using this site you agree to our revised Privacy Notice, Terms of Service and Cookie Policy. Mine safety is particularly critical when operating in a harsh environment (figure 22). Rio Tinto. Construction of the A21 rockfill dike (like the other three ore bodies, A21 kimberlite pipe is under shallow waters of Lac de Gras) is expected to be complete in 2018 with first diamonds expected in the fall of that year. The virus’s negative impact on diamond transport and marketing was cited by the company in its court filing for Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act protection in April. A separate plant treats all domestic sewage. The open-pit mine has been converted into an underground operation. Since the kimberlite pipes were initially covered by Lac de Gras, it was necessary to first construct dikes around the pipes to prevent water from flooding the open pits and underground mine workings. An important component of this power-sharing and cross-cultural governance over important land-use, environment, and wildlife decisions has been the increasing reliance on management boards with representation from the federal government, the mining companies, and local communities. The Diavik rough diamonds examined were dominated by octahedral forms with varying amounts of resorption (figure 26). Kjarsgaard, Ed., Proceedings of the Eighth International Kimberlite Conference, Slave Province and Northern Alberta Field Trip Guidebook, pp. 81–89.

They help us know how often you come to our site and when, how long you stay and any performance issues you experience whilst you are on our site. All rights reserved. While some people from the community believed that nature would “heal itself,” most panel members understood that environmental disruptions from mine operations were more extensive than naturally occurring events, and that a more aggressive reclamation process was necessary (Diavik diamond mine reclamation review, 2007; Diavik diamond mine: 2014 sustainable development report, 2015). These Cookies are used by advertising companies to inform and serve personalised ads to your devices based on your interests. The permafrost layer extends from two meters below the surface down to a depth of about 250 meters.

The pickup truck gives some indication of the benches’ height. Figure 17. The ore is crushed to the required size at the on-site processing plant. Donnelly C.L., Stachel T., Creighton S., Muehlenbachs K., Whiteford S. (2007) Diamonds and their mineral inclusions from the A154 south pipe, Diavik Diamond mine, Northwest Territories, Canada. The GIA authors thank the management of Diavik Diamond Mines Inc. for the opportunity to visit the site in June 2015 to gather photographs and document the mining, processing, and sorting operations.

The egg-sized fancy yellow diamond was discovered in October at the Diavik Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories. To order copies of Safety. Gus Fomradas, senior geologist of resources at Diavik, shows representative drill cores and field samples from the mine’s different kimberlite pipes. Based on initial assessments of diamond deposits in the Canadian north, it was evident that the kimberlite pipes could only be exploited by large-scale operations. Bell R. (1906) The occurrence of diamonds in the drift of some northern states. Owner Dominion Diamond Mines ULC says the offer by two affiliated companies, referred to as a “stalking horse bid,” was rejected by Aviva Insurance Company of Canada, Argonaut Insurance Company and Zurich Insurance Company Ltd. and there is “no reasonable prospect” of negotiating an agreement. Diamond crystals from the mine exhibit common forms such as octahedra, dodecahedra, macles, cubes, and aggregate shapes. Diavik's communications advisor, Doug Ashbury, gives the background of Diavik and places the mine in context with the mining history of Canada’s Northwest Territories. This selection of rough diamonds is typical of Diavik’s production. The decision to use trucks to haul ore and waste rock from underground, as opposed to a conveyor belt or ore bucket system, was based in part on the fact that the loaders and trucks from the open-pit mining operations were already available. The Diavik mine lies in the middle of the Slave craton, which derives its name from the Great Slave Lake at its southern border. Over the past four decades, legislation, land claims, and legal challenges have strengthened the rights of Canada’s indigenous communities over the land and water resources within their traditional territory.

Figure 20. Many of the rough octahedral diamonds without a coating showed strongly etched crystal surfaces, similar to those seen beneath the fibrous layer on the coated diamonds (where the coating was broken off), suggesting that a much larger proportion of Diavik rough diamonds was coated at one time. Managerial staff work four days at the mine followed by three days off-site. Our focus on minimising our environmental impact was also inherent in our construction of an award-winning wind farm that generates significant renewable energy for Diavik’s  operation. Irregular forms were observed in 43 diamonds, and an additional 19 samples showed octahedral forms but had a complete or partial coating of light or dark fibrous diamond around a gem-quality interior (figure 27). comm., 2016). These relationships have been well studied from samples provided by Diavik mining operations.

In these two videos, Gord Stephenson, Diavik's project engineer for the A21 pipe, outlines all the steps required to bring it into production, including the construction of a water-retaining dike to allow drainage of the lake and gain access to the ore body. McClenaghan, P.T. Rio Tinto markets its Diavik rough diamonds from a sales office in Antwerp. Since mining operations began in 2003, it has produced over 100 million carats of diamonds. Figure 18. The waste piles must be shaped to match the natural landscape, which is relatively flat with occasional low hills and granite outcrops. © 2020 Dominion Diamond Mines. On July 5, 2007, a consortium of seven mining companies, including Rio Tinto, announced they are sponsoring environmental impact studies to construct a deep-water port in Bathurst Inlet. Lithos, Vol. In winter it is not unusual to have weeks with temperatures between –35°C and –40°C, with frequent strong winds making these temperatures feel even colder.

[8][9], In 2015, $US350 million was announced to fund development of a fourth kimberlite pipe ore body, known as A21. Particular challenges included building the dikes without direct access to the bedrock beneath the lake, working during winter months of intense cold and extended darkness when the lake surface would be frozen, preventing debris from contaminating the lake, the use of local material for dike construction (blasted and crushed granite taken in stages from the open-pit locations), and a heavy reliance on an indigenous community workforce with no experience in heavy civil construction (Olive et al., 2004). Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, Vol. A Review of the Political and Economic Forces Shaping Today’s Diamond Industry. Diamond-bearing kimberlite deposits that can be mined economically are noteworthy, since only about 50 such occurrences have been found worldwide since the 1870s, mainly in Australia, Angola, Canada, Russia, and South Africa (Janse, 2007). Figure 15. The kimberlite pipes are also located under lakes, requiring an elaborate system of dikes and drainage to maintain safe mining operations. Prior to tunneling, an extensive geotechnical survey of the hydrogeology of the ore bodies and surrounding host rocks was carried out. The average value for A418 is $95 per carat (Dominion Diamonds, 2015). With the exception of one pink diamond colored by a 550 nm band and 16 gray stones colored by coatings, the remaining samples were various shades of brown caused by a combination of vacancy cluster and 550 nm band absorptions. The mine is jointly owned by Diavik Diamond Mines, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, and Dominion Diamond Corporation. The geological history preserved in the Slave craton offers a fascinating record, one that can be read from the complicated surface geology and especially from the deep mantle-derived rock samples brought up within the kimberlite. Photos by Jian Xin (Jae) Liao.

103–116, http://dx.doi.org /10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2007.12.020 Through radiometric age-dating methods on sulfide mineral inclusions (chiefly the long-lived radioactive decay of rhenium to osmium) in otherwise gem-quality diamonds, some of the oldest diamonds ever formed (3.3 to 3.5 billion years old) have been found in Diavik and its nearby counterpart, the Ekati mine (Westerlund et al., 2006; Aulbach et al., 2009). Because kimberlites weather and decompose faster than much older surrounding rocks, the pipes often occur in topographic depressions beneath lakes. Canil D. (2008) Canada’s craton: A bottoms-up view.

And where’s the gem-cutting industry? The 326 gem-quality rough diamonds ranged from 1.20 to 1.80 ct, and mainly included D-to-Z range (236), brown (70), yellow (3), gray (16), and pinkish (1) colors (figure 24). (2015) Where’s Deepak? government to cover reclamation obligations related to the Ekati mine. Photo courtesy of Rio Tinto Diamonds. Pounds, pers. To build the dike, Diavik will use the same technologies as were used to build the A154 and A418 dikes. These photos show a section of the arctic ice road, by which fuel, equipment,

Photo courtesy of Rio Tinto Diamonds.

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