| Victor Diamond Mine | |
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| Location | |
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Victor Diamond Mine
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| Location | 90 km (56 mi) west of Attiwapiskat |
| Province | Ontario |
| Country | Canada |
| Owner | |
| Company | De Beers |
| Website | http://www.debeerscanada.com/files_3/victor-mine.php |
| Production | |
| Products | Diamonds |
| History | |
| Opened | 2008 |
The Victor Diamond Mine is the first Canadian diamond mine located in Ontario, and De Beers' second diamond mine in Canada (after the Snap Lake Diamond Mine). It is located in the James Bay lowlands 90 kilometres (56 mi) west of Attawapiskat in the remote northern part of the province. In June 2005, the Attawapiskat First Nation voted in favour (85.5%) of ratifying the Impact Benefit Agreement (IBA).[1] Construction of the mine began in February 2006 which created 3200 positions; mining and operations will create around 400 permanent positions. The Victor Mine is an open-pit mine, with a processing plant, workshops, and an airstrip located on site.
Contents |
De Beers started looking for Kimberlite Pipes within Canada in the 1960s, in 1995 the pipes of the James Bay Lowland area were re-examined and interest was renewed in the Victor Mine Project. In 2005, the Project gained approval after an environmental assessment by the Federal and Provincial government and soon after construction begins. In 2007, the Moose Cree First Nations[2] peoples sign in favour of the Victor mine and the first successful productions of diamonds begins. June 20, 2008 Victor Mine enters production phase, De Beers celebrated its opening July 26 and reached an agreement with the Province of Ontario to allow up to 10% of the mines production to be available to the cutting and polishing industry in Ontario. As of October 2009, the Victor Mine was voted “Mine of the year”[3] by readers of the international trade publication called Mining Magazine, Fort Albany and Kaschewan First Nations also sign on to the Victor Mine.[4]
The area is composed of 18 kimberlite pipes of the Attawapiskat kimberlite field, 16 of which are diamondiferous, the Victor Mine sits on top of the Victor pipe and mines from Victor Main and Victor Southwest which have appeared close enough to the surface to be used in an open-pit mine. The Victor Kimberlite is a composition of pyroclastic crater facies and hypabyssal facies, and is considered to have a highly variable diamond grade.[5]
It is an open-pit mine; the equipment there is 100 tonne trucks, large front-end loaders, bulldozers and other necessary support equipment used in the mining operation. The annual production rate is 2.7 million tonnes a year, which comes to about 600,000 carats a year in diamond grade.[5]
There is year round access via air travel and only seasonal access over land depending on whether the weather permits travel. On the property are warehouses for storage, a processing plant, workshops, offices, fuel storage facilities, pit-dewatering machinery and an airstrip (the Victor Mine Aerodrome) for travel needs. The site also has recreational and dorm buildings for the permanent staff. The life of the mine is expect to be twelve years and the total project life is seventeen years and each year the processing plan is designed to treat 2.5 million tonnes of kimberlite per year (roughly 7100 tonnes a day).[5]
Victor Diamond Mine was chosen as the 2009 Mine of the Year by the readers of the international trade publication Mining Magazine.[6]
So far, De Beers Canada employees and its contract partners have safely worked more than four million hours without a Lost Time Injury.[5] Other human concerns is that the mines impact on the First Nations people, and their pledge to help promote community growth will only effect certain communities more than others.[7] Concerns were brought up regarding the mines impact on the surrounding area as it is an open pit mine it would disturb the natural environment, the impact area is 5,000 hectares of land. The first concern was raised in 2005,[8] when environmental groups called on the Ontario government to perform its own environmental impact assessment aside from the Federal one as it was believed the Federal assessment did not fully assess the situation, long term harm on the wildlife, wilderness and the water systems found there. However, the Project did receive an ISO 14001 certification.[9][10]