ATTAWAPISKAT – De Beers Canada announced Wednesday that the Victor diamond mine, the first and only commercial diamond mining operation in Ontario, is shutting down in less than a year and a half.
Kim Truter, the company’s chief executive officer made the announcement in Timmins, which for the past 10 years has been the main jumping-off point for access to the mine, located in the James Bay lowlands, roughly 100 kilometres west of the First Nation community of Attawapiskat.
The mine can only be accessed by air year round, or by a winter road, for five or six weeks in January and February. Truter said the mine has performed according to the original mine plan and now that the diamonds within the Victor property are gradually being depleted, the time is right for closing.
“The mine was forecast to produce 6 million carats during its life and it has already exceeded those projections producing approximately 7 million carats to date,” said Truter.
“It will continue to operate at full production throughout its remaining life.” The eventual shutdown is expected to occur in the first few months of 2019.
When the mine first went into operation in 2008, there was speculation that more diamonds could be found within other kimberlite deposits, which is the name for the host rock formation for diamonds.
Truter said over the years it was determined that other kimberlites did indeed show some opportunities but not enough to be sustainable. He said they needed the Victor pit to survive.
“At the onset of Victor’s operation more than 10 years ago, we knew there were other prospects on the Victor property. But even then we knew the scale of those other prospects were quite small.
For the rest of this article: http://www.timminspress.com/2017/11/01/victor-mine-to-shut-down-early-2019