Canada Expects to Make More Diamond Discoveries
July 23, 24
(IDEX Online) - Canada's diamond production remains in its infancy and there are still discoveries to be made, delegates at the 12th International Kimberlite Conference were told.
"The diamond industry has been active only since the 1990s," Karen Costello, executive director of Northwest Territories (NWT) and Nunavut Chamber of Mines, told 300 geoscientists at the conference in Yellowknife, capital of the NWT, last week.
"In Africa and South America, it has been around well for over 100 years ... so there are still discoveries to be made."
She said volatility in diamond prices hadn't impacted diamond exploration, and mine owners were looking within their current footprints and nearby for deposits of other minerals.
"Critical mineral exploration, while it is quite exciting ... it still is a long way from the level of investment that the diamond mines and what had previously been done for exploration overall," Costello said, as reported by CBC, Canada's public broadcaster.
Canada has three diamond mines - Ekati, which began production as Canada's first diamond mine in 1998, Diavik, which opened in 2003 and Gahcho Kue (2016).
Pic courtesy Burgundy shows Ekati mine.