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ABOUT THE SNAP LAKE MINE
Location: 63° 34’ 30” latitude and 110° 52’ 00” longitude, about 220 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife
Mine area: <500 hectares
Employees: 535
Capital cost: $975 million
Daily tonnes processed: 3,150
Recoverable grade: 1.2 carats per tonne
Annual tonnes produced: 1.1 million tonnes
Annual carats produced: 1.4 million carats
THE SNAP LAKE TEAM
NWT Senior Management
Brad Corrigan – Mine General Manager
Cathie Bolstad – Director, External and Corporate Affairs
Peter Mooney – Manager Operations
Kelly Arychuk – Manager, Human Resources & Administration
Tom Raine – Manager Protective Services
Dee McCallum – Manager, Safety, Health and Environment
Etienne Tardif – Maintenance Manager
Brendan Barron – Projects Manager
SNAP LAKE MINE OVERVIEW
The Snap Lake Mine, De Beers’ first mine outside of Africa, is unique in Canada. Built on the shore of Snap Lake, 220 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife, the mine is Canada’s first completely underground diamond mine. The Snap Lake ore body is a 2.5 metre thick dyke that dips an average of 12-15° from the northwest shore down under the lake. It is unlike most diamond-bearing kimberlite deposits which are shaped like pipes or carrots.
The kimberlite was discovered in 1997 by Winspear Resources. De Beers Canada bought the project in the fall of 2000 and received permits to build and operate the mine in May 2004.
Following pre-development design and engineering work, construction started with the winter road in 2005. Over the next two years, an automated process plant capable of handling 3,150 tonnes of ore per day, water and sewer treatment plants and a utilities building to power the site as well as an airstrip capable of landing 737 jets and Hercules C-130 transport planes were built.
Because of Snap Lake’s remote location, building and operating the mine requires careful planning. Travel to the site is only possible by airplane for all but six to eight weeks of the year.
During February and March – thousands of litres of fuel and other supplies are hauled to site via a winter road from Yellowknife. Resupply is coordinated by a team of logistics and materials management specialists in Yellowknife and at Snap Lake.
By December 31, 2008 $1.235 billion dollars has been spent on construction and operation of the of the mine. Of that total, $861.3 million has been spent with NWT-based contractors and suppliers, including $571.4 million with Aboriginal businesses or Joint Ventures.
The mine achieved commercial production in the first quarter of 2008 and the official opening ceremony was held on July 21, 2008. The mine achieved full production in 2008.
When operating at full production, Snap Lake employs about 535 employees. In early 2009, the company downsized the workforce to bring production into alignment with world demand. Currently De Beers is employing 350 people and there are approximately 50 contractors employed. Approximately 200 people are working on site
In 2009, De Beers reduced production levels to bring production in line with client demand. The Snap Lake Mine will take a production holiday for six weeks in July and August 2009, and for another four weeks in December 2009. Through production holidays and a renewed focus on maintenance and housekeeping measures at Snap Lake, the company will use this time to ensure the optimal and long-term sustainability of Snap Lake.
De Beers has established 40 training positions for the Snap Lake mine and aims to fill all forty by the third year of operations. Already, by the end of 2008, 15 Trades Trainees, 6 apprentices and 13 underground mine trainees have participated in our northern training and development initiatives. In 2008 we also hired our first female underground miner from the underground mine training program at Aurora College.
This commitment to building a Northwest Territories-based workforce includes investment in education and training initiatives like the Kimberlite Career and Technical Centre, Women in Mining, Oil and Gas program, and De Beers Books in Homes program, which has distributed 21,000 books to Aboriginal children in communities near the mine since 2003.
The Snap Lake Mine was built and is being operated with a commitment to maintaining the highest environmental management standards. The Snap Lake Mine is the only diamond mine in the NWT that has certified its environmental management systems to the high international standard, ISO 14001, through advanced exploration, construction and before operations. An Environmental Agreement with the territorial and federal governments and Aboriginal communities near the mine provides for ongoing monitoring of the environmental stewardship of the company.
Working to ensure benefits from the mine flow to communities close to the mine, we have established four Impact Benefit Agreements with Aboriginal communities and governments close to our projects. In addition, a socio-economic agreement with the Government of the Northwest Territories has also been completed. For a copy of the most recent Socio-economic Annual Report, click here.
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