Stephanie McDonald
Northern News Services
Published Monday, August 13, 2007

KITIKMEOT - Kimberlite processed in the Jericho mine plant is yielding a higher percentage of diamonds, but throughput has tailed off as Tahera restructures its operation.

This was the main message as the company released its second quarter report for the year last week.

"Overall we think we got good results in the quarter," said Tahera chairperson and chief executive officer Peter Gillin.

The mine produced 74,000 carats from 95,000 tonnes in the last quarter resulting in an average grade of 0.78 carats per tonne. It was a considerable improvement over the previous quarter, Gillin said.

In the first quarter, the average grade was 0.44 carats per tonne.

The value of production for the quarter was $6.9 million, with production operating costs totaling $16 million.

A focus of the second quarter was on waste rock stripping to better expose the property's kimberlite. Tahera had intended to do this work in 2006, but a fuel shortage caused by the early closure of the Tibbitt-to-Contwoyto winter road delayed the work.

The mine's processing plant was shut down for a number of days to catch up on the waste stripping, and throughput was additionally scaled back to allow time for tests and analysis to take place.

"We didn't have the overall tonnage in the quarter that we had anticipated," Gillin said. Average throughput was 1,300 to 1,500 tonnes per day, and the company hopes to increase it to the 2,000 tonnes it projected during the planning and construction phases.

When the company hits that mark, its officials say the mine will get out of the red and processing costs per carat will also decrease substantially.

"The plant is not running at full capacity just yet and it will take a period of time for us to continue to ramp it up," Gillin said.

There is an average of 90 people working on the Jericho site at any one time, said Greg Missal, Tahera vice-president of government and regulatory affairs. Inuit account for 30 per cent of the workforce, which includes both mine and contract workers.

The Northern employees hail from Kugluktuk, Cambridge Bay, Taloyoak, Gjoa Haven and Kugaaruk.

Under the terms of the Inuit Impact and Benefits Agreement (IIBA), Tahera has set a goal of 60 per cent Inuit employment.

"Our hope is that we can get there by Year 5," said Missal.

Tahera has been working in conjunction with the Kitikmeot Inuit Association (KIA) to ensure local people are trained and employed at the mine.

"They are responding well to the IIBA, making sure they train people to work in the mine," said KIA president Donald Havioyak. "It's been a good response from Tahera in hiring of Inuit from the region."