De Beers Canada Inc. & Mountain Province Diamonds Inc.

Overview

Located at Kennady Lake, approximately 280km northeast of Yellowknife and 80km southeast of De Beers' Snap Lake Mine in the Northwest Territories, the Gahcho Kué Project is a joint venture between De Beers Canada Inc. (51%) and Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. (49%). The proposed mine plan calls for recovery of 4.5 million carats annually. Three kimberlite pipes, 5034, Hearne and Tuzo would be mined via an open pit mining method over an 11 year mine life.

Scope of Work

JDS Energy & Mining, as technical advisor to Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. was brought in to add value to a sub-economic development plan. JDS led a re-scoping of the project design parameters including: changes to the waste and water management plan; processing rates; mining rates, mine equipment sizing and optimization to the production schedule; and revised project execution strategy. This work culminated in the GKJV partners engaging JDS to produce a Definitive Feasibility Study which added enough value for the JV partners to justify project development and funding. JDS is currently engaged by DeBeers to provide: additional engineering; technical support to the permitting effort; life of mine concepts for potential underground development; and other support in advance of providing project management services for the detail design and construction of the GK Diamond Mine planned to begin production in 2016.