[2] It is connected to points south by an ice road and Diavik Airport with a 5,234 ft (1,595 m) gravel runway regularly accommodating Boeing 737 jet aircraft. Janse A.J.A. The Diavik Diamond Mine (Diavik) is an unincorporated joint venture between Diavik Diamond Mines (2012) Inc. (a Rio Tinto company) and Dominion Diamond Diavik Limited Partnership, both headquartered in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. 98–119, http://dx.doi.org 151–181, http://dx.doi.org/10.1144 Dominion Diamond Corporation. Few of these pipes are directly exposed at the surface; most are buried beneath bodies of water, and they have been revealed by geophysical and field sampling techniques. Photo courtesy of Diavik Diamond Mine. 8, pp. Davis W.J., Jones A.G., Bleeker W., Grütter H. (2003) Lithosphere development in the Slave craton: A linked crustal and mantle perspective. Where the dike crosses an island, special refrigeration systems known as “thermosyphons” were installed to remove heat and allow the permafrost below the lake to remain frozen. Diavik’s communications advisor, Doug Ashbury, explains the challenges of the mine’s remote “off-grid” location, including the logistics of resupply in summer and winter. On East Island, where the Diavik mine is located, the kimberlite pipes are hosted in approximately 2.5-billion-year-old Archean granitic host rocks as well as some younger metasediments. In June 2016, Diavik surpassed 100 million carats of production (“Diavik diamond mine: 2015 sustainable development report,” 2016). Kimberlite ore and granite rock overburden from the pits are hauled away by vehicles, without a system of ore buckets or conveyor belts. Photo courtesy of Rio Tinto Diamonds. Much of the detailed structure and age information between 30 and 250 km depths is only possible because suites of diamonds have been analyzed. The complex also houses processing, power and boiler plants, fuel tanks, water and sewage processing facilities, maintenance shop, administrative buildings, and accommodations for workers. Comprehensive CAD/CAM For Jewelry Certificate. to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about McClenaghan M.B., Kjarsgaard B.A. 7, No. 5201 50th Ave Efforts are made to minimize the production of dust from roadways and the airstrip. A top-down bulk-mining method known as sub-level retreat (SLR) is used in the A418 and A154S pipes, where the kimberlite ore is weaker but contained within a more competent granite host rock. It consists of four kimberlite pipes associated with the Lac de Gras kimberlite field and is located on an island 20 km2 (7.7 sq mi) in Lac de Gras informally known as East Island. Although the north-central areas of the country were known to be underlain by ancient rocks of Archean age—the rocks that also host diamondiferous kimberlites in southern Africa and elsewhere—there was little effort on the part of large mining companies to search for diamonds in the Slave craton (Pell, 1995; Carlson et al., 1999). The subsequent development of several major diamond mines in this remote region transpired against the backdrop of a new relationship between the mine owners, the national government, and local communities. The broken ore falls into the tunnel and is removed. Dominion markets most of its Diavik and Ekati production through its sales offices in Antwerp. As stated above, this glaciation removed much of the topography of the area, including the upper portions of the kimberlite pipes. An ore hauler enters the access tunnel to reach the underground workings. Photo courtesy of Diavik Diamond Mine. 81–89. The company began a helicopter-borne magnetic survey (in partnership with Kennecott Canada, the exploration arm of Rio Tinto) to identify target locations as prospective kimberlite pipes (Carlson et al., 1999; Graham et al., 1999). Dr. Shigley is distinguished research fellow, Mr. Shor is senior industry analyst, Mr. Padua is a video producer, and Dr. For example, the Giant mine, a gold recovery operation near Yellowknife, closed in 1999, leaving 237,000 tonnes of toxic arsenic trioxide stored in the abandoned underground workings. Considering the rarity of diamonds in kimberlite pipes, to encounter such a large crystal in a random core section was remarkable. 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 pipes are capped by several meters of glacial till, a thin layer of lacustrine sediments, and 15–20 meters of lake water. Rio Tinto owns 60% of the Diavik mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories and operates the deposit through DDM. The four turbine, 9.2 megawatt facility provides 11 per cent (2015) of the Diavik mine's annual power needs and operates at 98% availability. Production from the new underground mine … These included job training, employment at the mine, and opportunities for local businesses to provide needed services. Figure 8. The mine is operated by Diavik Diamond Mines (2012) Inc., a subsidiary of Rio Tinto plc, one of the world’s largest and most highly regarded mining companies. 143–166. The Diavik diamond mine, shown here in February 2015, is located on a small island in Lac de Gras, approximately 300 km northeast of Yellowknife and 220 km south of the Arctic Circle, in a remote region of Canada’s Northwest Territories. Several Proterozoic diabase dikes cut through zones of structural weakness in these granitic rocks—these same zones may have been where exploding kimberlite magmas broke through to the surface. (1999) Recent Canadian kimberlite discoveries. http://www.mvlwb.ca /Boards/WLWB/Registry/2007/W2007L2-0003/W2007L2-0003% 20-%20Diavik%20-%20Security%20Review%20-%202007% 20INAC%20Estimate%20-%20Mar%2000_07.pdf/ As this mineral does not survive travel far from its source rock, he concluded that it had come from a kimberlite pipe in the immediate vicinity. Tailings Monitoring – what is the most effective method of monitoring tailings. [8][9], In 2015, $US350 million was announced to fund development of a fourth kimberlite pipe ore body, known as A21. An extensive safety management system governs all aspects of mine operations. Weather monitoring is conducted to warn mine staff of whiteout conditions, as well as the onset of very low temperatures. These Cookies also facilitate sharing information with social networks or recording your interactions with particular ads. Figure 18. Construction of the dike beneath the lake and across small islands presented engineering challenges. In this video, Tlicho Logistics energy engineer Scott McKenzie describes the challenges of providing power at such a remote location. In J.E. Their association with glacial sediments in the Great Lakes region led Hobbs (1899) to propose that the diamonds had been transported by the southward movements of glaciers (which covered large portions of Canada during the Pleistocene epoch, from 2.5 million until about 12,000 years ago) from unknown source rocks in the area near Hudson Bay (see also Bell, 1906). This wall is supported on both sides by a large volume of crushed granite waste rock. and supplies are brought by large trucks to the Diavik and other mines in northern Canada. 81, No. Nearly 98% of the samples were either pure type IaA (dominated by A-aggregate nitrogen pairs) or mixed IaAB types with various proportions of A- and B-aggregates. Rio Tinto. Photos courtesy of Diavik Diamond Mine. Diavik’s original plan called for the eventual development of underground mining operations, primarily by ore trucks driving down a tunnel from the surface (figure 13). © 2020 Dominion Diamond Mines. The bedrock consists of glacially eroded granite that is covered in many places by glacial till. Crews at this remote site are resident on site while they work 12-hour shifts for 14 days, then rotate home for 14 days of rest. 71, No. Photo by James Shigley. In B.A. A separate plant produces crushed granitic rock for dike construction, maintenance of the airport runway and road surfaces, and for use underground to backfill the open tunnels and other workings once the kimberlite ore is removed. Most of these occurrences are located in the Lac de Gras region near the center of the Slave craton (Carlson et al., 1999). And when mining ends, the embankments will be reclaimed and lake water will flow back into the open pit. Beneath the lakes, the till is overlain by several meters of fine sediment. The visit involved tours of the open pit and underground workings, the processing and recovery plant, and the facility in Yellowknife where diamonds are cleaned and sorted for distribution (figure 3). But as the pipe became narrower with depth, a point would be reached where ore could no longer be removed by vehicle haulage, and surface mining would then cease. In addition, the effects of mining operations on local wildlife (including caribou, wolverine, bear, and fish) and habitats (e.g., changes in vegetation) are checked on a regular basis. And where’s the gem-cutting industry? For example, we have developed world class engineering technology and techniques to hold back the waters of Lac de Gras (to reach the diamond-bearing pipes at the bottom of the lake) in a way that minimises disturbance. 1/3, pp. Subsequent to kimberlite pipe emplacement, this portion of Canada was covered by a glacial ice sheet that culminated about 20,000 years ago. Diavik diamond mine reclamation review & cost estimate (2007) Brodie Consulting Ltd. West Vancouver. These vestiges of ancient rock are the rarest, smallest, and oldest remnants of continental crust and immediately underlying 150–200 km of mantle (together known as the continental lithosphere). From the beginning of mine construction, plans were initiated to return the site to its nearly original condition once mining operations cease in 2024. (2007) presented results from a study of 100 inclusion-bearing Diavik diamonds that had been selected from more than 10,000 carats of “run of mine” production. Continuous monitoring of the now-unused open pits ensures the structural integrity of the pit walls, preventing breaching of the dikes from the surrounding lake and flooding of the underground workings. 3, pp. Search GIA's library catalog of 57,000 books, 1,800 videos, 700 periodicals, and the renowned Cartier Rare Book Repository and Archive. G&G, Vol. 1760, pp. 3, pp. Figure 3. The deposit contains three diamond-bearing kimberlite pipes known as A154 south, A154 north and A418. Photo courtesy of Rio Tinto Diamonds. This had been the case with searching for similar minerals in stream sediments in nonglaciated terrains (McClenaghan et al., 2000; McClenaghan and Kjarsgaard, 2001). Therefore, a traditional open-pit approach was chosen to remove the kimberlite from the upper portions of the pipes. Operations at Ekati were suspended in March to prevent spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Figure 23. 2019 figures. These relationships have been well studied from samples provided by Diavik mining operations. A Review of the Political and Economic Forces Shaping Today’s Diamond Industry. 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. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A, Vol. The workings shown in black are existing tunnels, whereas those in blue-green represent future tunnels that have not yet been installed to reach lower portions of the kimberlite pipes. Subsequent annual ice road resupply has been completed as planned. Earlier in 1995, hydrological and geotechnical studies were begun to assist in the conceptual design and development of both the open-pit and planned underground mining operations. The pipes are up to 20,000 square meters at the surface, and they extend down to depths of at least 600 meters. 112, Supp. (1999) Exploration history and geology of the Diavik kimberlites, Lac de Gras, Northwest Territories, Canada. Careful documentation of the different types of kimberlite (and other rocks) within a pipe is important because these factors can exert some control over the size and abundance of the diamonds, and on the processing of the material as kimberlite ore.

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