Rio Tinto Generating 4kg of Diamonds Per Week From Diavik

Rio Tinto is generating about 20,000 carats, or four kilograms, of diamonds per day from its mining operations at its Diavik operations in Canada’s far north, according to the company’s recent Review Magazine.

 

Rio said that “when the ramp up is completed, annual production is expected to peak at over six million carats. Based on plant availability, annual ore processing is estimated at 1.5 million tons”.

In the first nine months of 2003, around 19 million tons of waste rock and about a million tons of kimberlite were mined.

So far, the largest gem quality rough diamond recovered weighed 151 carats.

Diavik’s ore process plant manager Harry Ryans is happy with the work so far, saying “overall, the story is a good one. We're producing diamonds in sufficient quantity. Prices are good. Rio Tinto Diamonds can sell all we produce, if not more."

Diavik has successfully built the first of its three planned dikes offshore of a 20 square-kilometer island. This ring of rockfill holds back the lake's waters and allows safe mining of the two kimberlites.

The extreme weather conditions are illustrated by the fact that for eight months of the year, the mine is surrounded by ice up to 1.5 meters thick. Access is by air only except during the coldest weeks of the winter when an ice road built over frozen lakes and ponds allows re-supply.