Canada gets own Kimberley holes

DEEP in the Canadian wilds, about 300km from the nearest city as the crow flies, the world’s largest diamond mine outside of South Africa is being dug.

The Gahcho Kue mine — “big rabbit” in the local Chipewyan language — is accessible only by air, except for a few winter weeks, when trucks may travel across an ice road on the edge of the Arctic Circle.

It took De Beers and its Canadian partner Mountain Province Diamonds nearly 20 years and $1-billion (R13.6-billion) to get the project off the ground.

About 530 employees using enormous trucks and mining equipment now work round the clock in shifts, digging three pits in the earth’s crust, that are visible from space, to reveal the diamond-rich kimberlite formations underground.

Nearby an ore-processing plant has been set up, as well as a mechanical repair shop and diesel storage tanks. Workers are housed on site in sparse quarters, but have access to a gym and other amenities.

“This mine would never ever [have] existed without the winter road,” said De Beers official Rob Coolen. Temperatures plunge to -40ºC in winter, creating thick layers of ice on the many lakes in the remote region. The 1m-thick layer of ice is capable of carrying loads weighing up to 55 tons.

The ice road starts in Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, and ends 400km further at the Gahcho Kue mine. More than 3 800 truckloads of mining equipment, supplies, building materials, diesel and food crossed during the past two winters.

Over the next decade-and-a-half, De Beers expects to pour C$5.7-billion (about R59-billion) into the economy of the Northwest Territories, which derives more than half its GDP from mining activities.

Partnering with local indigenous communities has provided workers for the mine, as well as about C$4million in royalties for area tribes, said De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver. — AFP