Ekati Diamond Mine By: NASRINA PARVIN KHAN
Summary: The name Ekati comes from the word "e'kati". The Dogrib and Dene
peoples of the Northwest Territories traditionally called the area "e'kati".
EKATI means "fat lake". It refers to the white quartz rock, which is found
in abundance in the area.
EKATI DIAMOND MINE, CANADADiamond is the most precious stone in this world, which we find in the mine.
There are many diamonds mines in the various parts of this world.
Ekati diamond mine of is one of the
most recent diamond mine in the world. The Ekati diamond mine is Canada's
first surface and underground diamond mine.
Image Courtesy :
ekati.bhpbilliton.com
EKATI Mine Location
The Ekati diamond mine is located near Lac de Gras, is about 300 km north
east of Yellowknife, capital of the Northwest Territories of Canada. The
location is a remote Arctic area of tundra region. The mine claims to cover
344,000 hectares area in the sub arctic tundra, with the land lease area of
10,960 hectares.
EKATI - Name Origin
The name Ekati comes from the word "e'kati". The Dogrib and Dene peoples of
the Northwest Territories traditionally called the area "e'kati". EKATI
means "fat lake". It refers to the white quartz rock, which is found in
abundance in the area. The white quartz veins from the rock are look like
caribou fat, which has a great value to the Aboriginal people of Northwest.
Wekweti and a Dogrib community approximately 180 km southwest of the Ekati
diamond mine are the closest community.
Air is the only accessible way to reach the Ekati diamond mine. Besides,
approximately a 500 km ice road is built to access Ekati diamond mine during
the 3 months period in winter.
Treeless vast land of the remote area of Arctic tundra region changes it
form in every season. In the winter, this area covered with crystalline
snow. On the other hand it covered with wildflowers in the summer. This
beautiful land remains untouched years after years by civilized world. Only
the Aboriginal people of North used this land for hunting.
But the scenario was change during the late 20th Century. Thousands of
mineral explorers came to this remote area for hunting valuable minerals,
especially diamonds.
Ownership - EKATI Diamond Mines
Chuck Fipke and his partner Dr. Stu Blusson are among the few who believed
that diamond could be found in the Canadian arctic area. After five years
effort, Fipke found them in a sample he'd taken near Lac de Gras.
Fipke and Blusson's company DiaMet Minerals Ltd. formed a joint venture with
Australia's BHP Minerals in1991. Their joint effort and investment paid off
in this year when the first economically viable kimberlite (Kimberlite is
ancient 'pipes' of volcanic rock that contains the hard crystal which we
call diamonds) was discovered at the Point Lake. They found 81 diamonds at
the Point Lake.
The first diamond as well as the largest mineral staking rush was found with
this discovery in the history of North America.
The Ekati diamond mine officially opened on October 14,1998. BHP Minerals
bought DiaMet Minerals' on October 2001 and now owns 80 per cent of the
Ekati diamond mine. Fipke and Blusson continue to own 10 per cent each of
this mine.
Diamonds at the Ekati site are found in 45 to 62 millions year old
kimberlite pipes. By 2002, the project area of this mine contains over 200
kimberlite pipes; all lie underneath of shallow lakes. At least 20-25 of
these contains high quality diamonds.
Traditional open pit method of mining as well as underground are used in the
Ekati diamond mine. Panda, Koala, Fox, Beartooth, Pigeon, Sable, and Misery
are 7 ore bodies, which are in current mining plan in Ekati. Koala and
Misery are two open pits currently in production. Beartooth and Fox are two
open pits currently in development. Panda and Koala will be later mined by
underground methods as well.
The mining process includes draining of water from each lake, excavating of
the kimberlite from an open pit with shovel and truck and transporting to an
18,000-tones/day-process plant where it is crushed.
After followed these process pure diamonds are extract from the ore with the
help of X-ray fluorescence sorters.
The Ekati diamond mine treated 5.6 million tones of ore during 2003 to yield
6.96 million carats of diamonds, whereas it yield 4.5 million carats during
2004 and 5.11 million carats diamonds during 2005. Usually, the mine is
estimated to yield 3 to 5 million carats diamonds annually. Many large
diamonds have been found, including a 182-carat stone there.
The mine is BHP Billiton's only diamond mine and products $ 1.7 million of
diamonds everyday. The production of this mine is nearly 4 per cent of
recent world diamond production by weight and 6 per cent by value.
Over 800 people work in the mine as the employees. Approximately half of
them come from Aboriginal communities of Northwest Territories.
The Ekati diamond mine is the world's 3rd largest diamond mine as well as
the largest producer of gem grade diamonds in North America.
All the mine production of Ekati diamond mine is sorted and valued at
Yellowknife. A sorting and valuation unit opened near the Yellowknife
Airport in February 1999 from Ekati diamonds mine. This unit is used for
cleaning, sizing, basic sorting of stones as well as the division of product
for sales.
Sales of branded polished diamonds is also operates by BHP Billiton. The
polished diamonds from Ekati diamond mine are marketed under the brand name
AURIAS and CANADAMARK to the retailers and customers in Canada, the United
States, Australia and Singapore. Diamonds from these brands recognized as
unique, high quality products in the world.
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