De Beers Considering Options After Early Winter Road Closure

After warm weather forced the early closure of a Canadian winter road, several diamond mining and exploration companies were left without some of the supplies they planned on transporting. One of them, De Beers Canada, is now considering its options to ensure that its Snap Lake diamond project remains on schedule.

A De Beers spokesperson said they are looking for ways to deliver necessary equipment to the Snap Lake project in the Northwest Territories. One option is to airlift in the supplies, but such a move will negatively affect costs. Snap Lake is slated to start diamond mining in 2007.

At another Canadian site, the early winter road closure also affected De Beers' Gahcho Kue project, where the drill program was not “successfully completed.” De Beers' core drilling program stopped at 20 holes, down from the planned 42 holes, because of limited access to the exploration site.

Gahcho Kue is a joint venture with Mountain Province Diamonds, which holds a 44.1 percent stake in the project, and Camphor Ventures, which holds a 4.9 percent share. It is an $825 million open-pit mine project, located at Kennedy Lake, about 185 miles northeast of Yellowknife.

“The failure of the winter drill program to meet expectations is disappointing,” Mountain Province CEO, Patrick Evans, said in a statement.

“The joint-venture partners are currently conducting a comprehensive review of the factors that prevented the successful completion of the (drilling) program,” he added.

About 600 of the planed 2,200 truckloads of supplies and equipment did not make it to De Beers’ two sites.