Post by Designer on Apr 12, 2005 15:10:18 GMT -5
Third diamond mine takes shape
13.04.05
by Nicole Mordant
In an area better known for polar bears and ice floes, Canada's third diamond mine is taking shape on the Arctic tundra.
Tahera Diamond is trucking the last of hundreds of loads of building materials along a 600km winter road to the site in Nunavut, Canada's most sparsely populated territory.
The Jericho mine, which is expected to start production next year, will be Nunavut's first diamond mine and, for some time, the far northern territory's only mine of any type after Kinross's Lupin gold operation shut last year.
Although nowhere near the size of Canada's first two diamond mines, the C$76.5 million ($86 million) Jericho project could create a fistful of jobs and spill-over opportunities for inhabitants of western Nunavut.
"We can't expect Jericho to have the same tremendous impact [as the huge Ekati and Diavik mines] but hopefully it will have a fairly profound local positive effect on nearby communities and on Nunavut," said Michael Hine, head of Nunavut business at the Northwest Territories and Nunavut Chamber of Mines.
Ekati and Diavik, 170km south of the Jericho site in the neighbouring Northwest Territories, elevated Canada from a non-diamond producer before 1998 to the world's third biggest today.
None of Nunavut's towns can be reached by permanent road or rail so everything needed by the 30,000 residents must be flown in or arrive by ship.
The mine is expected to produce 3.1 million carats of diamonds over its eight-year lifespan.
- REUTERS
13.04.05
by Nicole Mordant
In an area better known for polar bears and ice floes, Canada's third diamond mine is taking shape on the Arctic tundra.
Tahera Diamond is trucking the last of hundreds of loads of building materials along a 600km winter road to the site in Nunavut, Canada's most sparsely populated territory.
The Jericho mine, which is expected to start production next year, will be Nunavut's first diamond mine and, for some time, the far northern territory's only mine of any type after Kinross's Lupin gold operation shut last year.
Although nowhere near the size of Canada's first two diamond mines, the C$76.5 million ($86 million) Jericho project could create a fistful of jobs and spill-over opportunities for inhabitants of western Nunavut.
"We can't expect Jericho to have the same tremendous impact [as the huge Ekati and Diavik mines] but hopefully it will have a fairly profound local positive effect on nearby communities and on Nunavut," said Michael Hine, head of Nunavut business at the Northwest Territories and Nunavut Chamber of Mines.
Ekati and Diavik, 170km south of the Jericho site in the neighbouring Northwest Territories, elevated Canada from a non-diamond producer before 1998 to the world's third biggest today.
None of Nunavut's towns can be reached by permanent road or rail so everything needed by the 30,000 residents must be flown in or arrive by ship.
The mine is expected to produce 3.1 million carats of diamonds over its eight-year lifespan.
- REUTERS