MINING NEWS: Diamond prospectors spur permit frenzy

Gary Park

Mining News Calgary correspondent

With diamond production soaring in the Northwest Territories, prospectors are ready to flood the region as Canada works its way into third place among world’s producers. The Northwest Territories and Nunavut governments have issued more than 2,000 permits covering more than 70 million acres, the bulk of them stemming from exploration work done last spring and summer.

Nunavut, which issued permits only once a year in February, has logged a record 1,518 permits covering 64 million acres, compared with a mere 190 permits and 9 million acres a year ago. And the world’s biggest diamond players are leading the way.

De Beers Canada Exploration, a unit of the South Africa-based giant, received 633 permits for 28 million acres, while BHP Billiton Diamonds, the Canadian division of the Australian minerals conglomerate, raked in 394 permits for 16.4 million acres.

Stornoway Diamonds, following staking and exploration work last year, obtained 154 permits for 5.5 million acres. The Vancouver-based company has invested about C$5 million on its Aviat diamond project in Nunavut.

The Northwest Territories has yet to complete its final count, but preliminary estimates show permits have tripled from 200 last year to about 600 this year.

For the Northwest Territories it costs about 10 cents an acre to register a claim and $1.50-$2 an acre to stake a claim. Meanwhile, output from the BHP Billiton’s Ekati mine in the Northwest Territories is reported to have climbed by 60 percent last year to 5.6 million carats, while the Diavik mine is said to be yielding 20,000 carats a day, putting it on track for a forecast 8 million carats a year.

De Beers expects to start its Snap Lake mine in the Northwest Territories within a few years and Tahera is developing Nunavut’s first mine.