Dominion sees more diamonds
Latest quarterly report shows more carats per tonne coming from Ekati and Diavik
Karen K. Ho
Northern News Services
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Dominion Diamond recently released the production and sales results of their Ekati and Diavik mines for their fiscal first quarter of 2016 and the results keep getting better.
Surface mining at Dominion Diamond Corporations Misery extension. The Misery extension is already proving profitable, according to the company, and entered into commercial production earlier this month. - Dave Brosha photograph courtesy Dominion Diamond Corporation |
The company's Ekati mine did well between February and April. Despite 851,000 tonnes of ore processed, down from 962,000 tonnes during the same period last year, the grade of carats rose from 561,000 in 2014 to 804,000 compared to the same three-month period last year.
The grade of carats per tonne also rose from 0.58 for the three months ending on April 30, 2014, to 0.94 during the same period this year.
The company also issued updates about its mining and processing facilities at Ekati. Dominion noted that "unusually extreme winter conditions" affected surface mining activities, and a new excavator was commissioned for the Pigeon section of the mine to ensure it would remain on schedule.
The weather also affected Ekati's plant performance that created "material handling issues" reduced the availability of a piece of high-pressure roll crushing equipment.
The Sable bulk sample and Jay drilling programs were also completed on schedule and their material is being processed as planned.
When it came to Diavik, the amount of ore processed dropped 27 per cent from 237,000 tonnes last year to 173,000 tonnes in this reported quarter.
However, the grade of carats per tonne rose from 2.97 to 3.38.
The company explained this difference by the processing of additional stockpiled ore from the previous year, high dilution in the ore, and upgrades to a crusher plant which reduced capacity.
Total sales of rough diamonds from Ekati and Diavik rose from $175.5 million (USD) during the three months ending on April 30, 2014 to $187.7 million (USD) during the same period this year. The number of carats also rose from 841,000 to 1.25 million.
The highest price per carat came from the Koala North ore type at Ekati, commanding a value of $380 (USD).
The company plans to hold three rough diamond sales in the second fiscal quarter of 2016.
