Diamonds aren't forever at Victor Mine: Despite 2019 mine closure, De Beers still believes area holds potential.

AuthorRoss, Ian
PositionMining

De Beers Canada is razing and remediating the Victor Mine site beginning in 2019, but it's not completely abandoning the James Bay region.

If there are more rich diamond deposits to be unearthed, a company spokesman said they'll come at it with a different approach.

Tom Ormsby, the company's head of corporate affairs, said the diamond-bearing ground, 90 kilometres east of Attawapiskat, still remains very prospective but it doesn't support keeping the current infrastructure intact.

"It all has to go. The minute the process plant has the last ore pushed through then the decommissioning and demolition will begin."

The company announced Nov. 1 that production at the remote fly-in/fly-out mine would finish during the first quarter of 2019, at which time the deposit will be depleted.

Ontario's first diamond mine has exceeded its original six-million carat forecast by a million since starting operations in June 2008.

Ormsby said De Beers' plans are to finish its remaining 16 months of production at the open pit, then go through with its pre-arranged closure and site remediation plans, including a tear-down of all the surface buildings. A demolition contract will be awarded shortly.

Closure is a three- to five-year process followed by ongoing environmental site monitoring.

"Then at that point, we'll have to have a look," said Ormsby, in re gards to future diamond potential.

Always waiting in the wings to succeed the Victor pit was the nearby Tango deposit. But De Beers decided to place the development of the extension on indefinite hold last January.

"We know now that the Tango extension kimberlite is not economic as a stand-alone ore body," said Ormsby.

Kimberlite is the most common host rock of diamonds.

Tango is considered the best of the 15 diamond-bearing kimberlite pipes. But it's half the size of the Victor pipe, said Ormsby.

There was hope that the other diamonds within the kimberlite cluster would fetch a very high price per carat.

"We know none are trending that way," he said. "There are some very good diamonds in those pipes but they're not at the Victor level, and few in the world are. And so with half the size (at Tango) and a different revenue model we couldn't make it economical with what we've got."

Should Tango enter production or be part of a district-scale operation, Ormsby said De Beers will have to take a different mine design approach.

"The big monster mines are not being found anymore," said Ormsby, "but we're trying to...

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