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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - It's been a year of change for the Diavik Diamond Mine and it's not about to let up as the mine prepares to become fully underground by 2012.

Underground mining at Diavik, which this summer was rebranded under the name of its parent company Rio Tinto, will begin in the middle of next year.

A crusher plant underwent construction this summer at Diavik Diamond Mine. The mine is in transition mode, going from mining above the ground to being a fully underground mine by 2012. - photo courtesy of Diavik Diamond Mine

Open-pit mining will cease completely in 2012, making Diavik a completely underground mine, much like De Beers' Snap Lake mine.

"We're essentially building a new mine," said spokesman Tom Hoefer of the $700 million capital cost of going underground. By comparison, the original Diavik mine cost $1.3 billion, $400 million of that attributable to the cost of building a dike underneath Lac de Gras.

"We're moving into a higher cost environment," said Hoefer.

Phasing underground has required the company to plan a lot of new infrastructure, some of which, like the eight-story paste backfill plant, is still being readied for the underground start date.

Paste backfill, a mixture of cement and finely-crushed rock, will be used to fill in holes created underground, a process that was never necessary during open-pit mining.

"We pump it underground like toothpaste," said Hoefer.

There are currently 2,800 bags of cement in storage in Yellowknife, awaiting transportation to the mine via the Tibbitt to Contwoyto winter road.

"We didn't used to have this commodity," said Hoefer. "We didn't require it because we didn't do paste backfill. So it's a change in business."

The paste backfill plant and its sister crusher plant mean more power requirements for the mine. Diavik's power plant currently has five 4.4 megawatt diesel generators. A second plant will house two 3.3 megawatt generators and two 4.4 megawatt generators and have space for two more 4.4 megawatt generators, to be installed next year.

Going underground will have a sizable effect on the mine's staff numbers as well.

The mine currently has 800 workers. For the period between next year and 2012, when both open-pit and underground mining will occur on site, 1,000 people will be required.

But once the open pits are a thing of the past, that number will shrink to around 625, said Hoefer.

To prepare the staff that will remain, Diavik is talking to each employee about what lies ahead.

"We've got a workforce that's been working for us successfully for five years or so and we'd like to keep as many of them as we can," said Hoefer. "We're saying, 'If you're not going to be a haul truck driver in the future, start thinking about the other opportunities that might be available to you here.'"

The changes won't end at the mine site. In the more immediate future, the new Rio Tinto logo for the company will be making its debut on several fronts soon.

Hoefer said the Diavik website could be updated with the Rio Tinto logo as early as next month, while work continues on a new sign for Diavik's downtown headquarters on Franklin Avenue.

"It would be nice to have it by the end of the year," Hoefer said of the sign.

The spare red "Rio Tinto" name will replace Diavik's flagship logo of blue Northern lights set against a black backdrop.

"I've had a history in the project for 11 years now," said Hoefer. "We invented the logo and we invented our brand around it. There's some sadness. I've heard people on the street say the same thing, that they're sad to see the logo go. But our mine is still called the Diavik Diamond Mine."