Snap Lake and Victor Mines Open in NWT and Ontario
July 27, 08 by IDEX Online Staff Reporter
De Beers on Friday officially opened the Snap Lake and Victor mines in Canada, its first two mines outside of Africa. The two projects together are expected to produce a total of two million carats per year, the company stated in a release.
The openings were officiated by De Beers Group Chairman Nicky Oppenheimer, Managing Director Gareth Penny, De Beers Canada Chairman Jonathan Oppenheimer and President Jim Gowans.
Aerial of the Snap Lake diamond mine |
Nicky Oppenheimer commented, “This is an exciting moment in the history of De Beers. Never before have we opened two mines at the same time and never before have we opened a mine outside of Africa.”
De Beers noted that, between Snap Lake and Victor mines, more than C$650 million (US$637.4 million) has been spent with Aboriginal businesses. In addition, De Beers has made agreements with the governments of the Northwest Territories (NWT) and Ontario for 10 percent of diamonds from the two mines, by value, to be made available for sale to approved Sightholders who will polish the diamonds in Ontario.
Victor is located near Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario and is Ontario’s first diamond mine. It will employ 400 people during production, projected to have an annual production rate of 600,000 carats and will be an open pit mine with an expected life of 12 years and a total project life of 17 years.
Snap Lake will employ 560 people during production, expected to have an annual production rate of 1.4 million carats and has a projected mine life of about 20 years. This mine is also, according to De Beers, the only diamond mine in NWT that has certified its environmental management systems to ISO 14001 standards before operations had begun.
