De Beers Canada announced it had placed Snap Lake on extended care and maintenance in December after failing to find a buyer for the Arctic diamond mine. The dewatering infrastructure in the underground mine will be sequentially turned off, allowing Snap Lake to safely flood. The process started in early January and is expected to last eight weeks. The mine failed to make a profit for the company since opening in 2008. It was put on care and maintenance in December 2015 and was put up for sale in July 2016, giving prospective buyers six months to bite before the mine was flooded. De Beers Canada spokesman Tom Ormsby said flooding the mine is “the most economic way to hold the asset for a longer period of time.” The mine
IDLERS
Courtesy of De Beers Canada
De Beers Canada to flood Snap Lake diamond mine
Flooding the underground diamond mine mitigates its environmental impact by preventing mine water from reaching the surface and contaminating Snap Lake itself.
can be resuscitated in the future and its estimated 25 million carats will be preserved, while the company no longer has to foot the bill for dewatering. Flooding the mine safely also mitigates the mine’s environmental impact
PULLEYS
by preventing mine water, high in dissolvable solids, from reaching the surface and contaminating Snap Lake itself. Water management issues have plagued the property since its opening.
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20 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 12, No. 1
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