Owners approve construction of $1.3-billion diamond mine
Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Dec 22/00) - It's official, the NWT's second diamond mine is under construction.
Rio Tinto and Aber Diamond Corp. approved construction of the Diavik diamond mine earlier this week, a step Tom Hoefer said takes the project to its next phase.
"With the seal of approval, we've grown into a different project," said Hoefer, Diavik Diamond Mines' public affairs manager.
Owners of the Lac de Gras property, London-based Rio Tinto and Toronto-based Aber Diamond Corp. (formerly Aber Resources) announced Tuesday they will proceed with the building of the $1.3-billion diamond mine.
Nine years ago, junior mining company Aber Resources staked the Diavik property. Building the mine will take another two-and-a-half years with production planned for the first half of 2003.
The approval means the Yellowknife-based project manager, Diavik Diamond Mines, can now formally sign contracts and execute agreements reached previously.
Diavik plans to move 4,000 loads of fuel, equipment and construction material up the 2001 ice road or about four times what the company hauled last year for site preparation.
So far, about $113 million of the $1.3 billion included in the construction budget had been spent. About $88 million of that total was spent with Northern companies.
Hoefer estimated total construction costs next year to come in at about $500 million.
"It's positive news, that the investors see this as a viable project and that they see (the NWT) as a viable place to invest," said Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce President John Ondrack.
"I know a lot of businesses have taken risks that this project will go ahead. They've gone out on a limb and expected it will go," he said.
"For businesses involved in long-term supply, it's wonderful."
NWT Chamber of Mines General Manager Mike Vaydik agreed.
"For the economy of the Northwest Territories and the West Kitikmeot, it's definitely good news."
Vaydik said the industry remains concerned about regulatory uncertainty.
"We have a meeting scheduled with DIAND (the federal Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development) to try and come to terms with the uncertainty.
"We don't want the rules relaxed, we want certainty," he says.
Vaydik also suggested because diamond mines are incredibly profitable, they may be the only kind of mine that can withstand the regulatory process that may make it difficult to permit a base-metal or gold mine.
