De Beers to Begin Flooding Canadian Mine

Yellowknife, Northwest Territories--The Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board has granted De Beers an interim approval on its Extended Care and Maintenance and Water Management plan for the Snap Lake mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories.

De Beers Canada disclosed on its website, “Approval requires the inclusion of commitments De Beers made during the Stakeholder review process.” De Beers has agreed to make the necessary updates to its plan to gain full approval.

A dyke of kimberlite runs underneath Snap Lake at an approximate 12-degree angle and is 2.5 meters in diameter. De Beers opened the Snap Lake mine in 2008--its first outside of Africa, and the only mine in Canada that is completely underground.

In 2014, nearly 1.2 million carats of diamonds were recovered from Snap Lake, according to De Beers Canada.

The Extended Care and Maintenance plan entails removal of the underground mine to flood the area.

Tom Ormsby, De Beers Canada’s head of external and corporate affairs, said, “We will commence the technical work required to eventually flood the underground workings of Snap Lake Mine later this year, which will be carried out in a controlled and responsible manner, minimizing the flow of water into the receiving environment and significantly reducing the operation’s total environmental impact.

He said the flooding of the underground workings also provides the company with the opportunity to hold the mine in a more sustainable environmental and economic fashion over a longer period of time, increasing the chance that it could be re-opened in future “should financial conditions, re-capitalization and implementation of operational efficiency improvements prove viable.”

Ormsby added, “This decision will enable the preservation of a significant diamond mineral resource in the ground, which is approximately 20-30 million carats.”

In December 2015, De Beers announced that it was ceasing Snap Lake mining operations while it evaluated market conditions.

Over 400 employees were terminated.

Kim Truter, Chief Executive of De Beers Canada, commented at the time, “The men and women at Snap Lake have put enormous effort into this challenging ore body over many years, but even the gains made this year are not enough to overcome the market conditions and put us in a profitable position. To see such a strong commitment to the mine makes [this] announcement that much more difficult.”

De Beers Canada maintains two other mining sites: the Victor Mine in northern Ontario and Gahcho Kué in the Northwest Territories, which is currently under construction.

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