Aber assures shareholders that Divak is on budget
Aber Diamond Corp ABZ
Shares issued 54,581,320 Jul 24 close $23.00
Wed 24 Jul 2002 News Release
An anonymous director reports
DIAVIK SECOND QUARTER UPDATE
Construction of the Diavik diamond mine at Lac de Gras, Northwest
Territories, continues to progress on schedule and within budget.
Plant infrastructure is well advanced with various service plants now
operational. The water treatment plant processed waters retrieved during
the dredging of the dike footprint during the summer of 2001 and returned
these to Lac de Gras in conformance with Diavik Diamond Mines Inc.'s (DDMI)
approved water management plans. At the permanent power plant, all five
generators have been successfully started in preparation for load testing.
Mechanical, electrical, instrumentation and piping (MEIP) work continues to
progress well inside the process plant. Work continues at the
maintenance/office building, heavy vehicle workshop and the permanent
accommodations complex.
Work has been substantially completed on the A154 dike that surrounds the
first two orebodies that will be mined. Construction of the
3.9-kilometre-long water diversion structure required about six million
tonnes of crushed and screened rock. The dike was constructed on schedule
over a 16-month period commencing in March, 2001, and has met all design
and regulatory specifications. A cement wall, installed along the centre
line of the dike, is designed to restrict water from flowing back into the
mining pit once the water has been removed from the pool formed by the
dike.
DDMI will commence water removal from the A154 pool shortly. Prior to
removal of the water, a local environmental partnership with the Dogrib Rae
band conducted a study of the aquatic life within the pool, capturing and
releasing fish back into Lac de Gras. The clean waters from the A154 pool
will be returned directly into Lac de Gras. Waters silty with naturally
occurring lakebed sediments will be directed to land-based storage ponds
and held prior to clarification through DDMI's water treatment plant and
subsequent return to the lake.
De-watering of the A154 pool will be conducted under controlled conditions
over two months to allow gradual drainage of water from the inner wall of
the dike structure to take place. All reasonable and normal measures have
been taken to render the dike as watertight as possible. As with every
earth and rock fill dam, some seepage will occur. Provisions have been made
to ensure that this inflow will not affect the dike integrity, and a system
of collection channels, pumping stations and DDMI's water treatment plant
will safely gather, treat and dispose of this water throughout mine life.
Once the pool waters have been drained, removal of the sediment and rock
overburden overlying the deposit area will begin. The current plan calls
for this process to take place over a four-month period with kimberlite ore
becoming accessible in the first quarter of 2003. During the two months
following the removal of the overburden, it is planned that the first
quantities of kimberlite ore will be mined, stockpiled and processed for
diamond recovery. As diamonds are recovered, they will be forwarded to the
Diavik production splitting facility in Yellowknife for cleaning, division
and royalty evaluation. The first production of Diavik diamonds is expected
to become available to the joint venture participants, DDMI and Aber, in
April, 2003. Any potential change to the start-up date can only be
determined once the drainage of the A154 pool is complete and the nature of
the lakebed overburden and its removal is assessed.
Forecast project costs continue to be within the budgeted $1.3-billion
capital cost. Cumulative project expenditures to June 30 are $1,029,000.
Health, safety and environment
DDMI is in compliance with all permits and licences. All annual regulatory
reports on project activities in 2001 were submitted by the end of the
quarter. DDMI also issued its 2001 social and environment report entitled
"The Road to Sustainability" during the quarter.
Three lost time injuries (LTIs) were reported in the second quarter. Safety
performance is expressed in terms of the lost time injury frequency rate
(LTIFR) -- the rate of occurrence of lost time injuries per 200,000 hours
of work. Diavik's LTIFR for the second quarter 2002 was 0.60. Year to date,
there have been five LTIs for an LTIFR of 0.64.
Employment, business opportunities and training
The total on-site work force peaked at about 1,100 workers during the
quarter. Northern participation to date during the multiyear construction
phase of the project is over 40 per cent.
Virtually all construction contracts have now been awarded. Of the
approximately $1-billion in construction contracts and purchases awarded,
approximately 73 per cent is with northern companies.
In preparation for mining operations, and as part of DDMI's continued
efforts to provide business and employment opportunities to the North, DDMI
has awarded contracts to the following aboriginal and northern companies
for services to be provided once operations commence:
SecureCheck of Yellowknife, an Inuit joint venture of Nunasi Corp., for
security services;
Denesoline Western Explosives Inc., a joint venture between the Lutsel K'e
Dene First Nation and Western Explosives Ltd., for on-site explosive
services;
G&G Expediting of Yellowknife for off-site logistics and freight
forwarding; and
Kingland Ford of Hay River for on-site light vehicle maintenance.
DDMI expects to award additional contracts to northern companies over the
next few months.
During the second quarter, DDMI and partners commenced a process plant
training course. The course, conducted at Aurora College's Thebacha campus
in Fort Smith, NWT, is training 25 northerners for potential employment
opportunities at the Diavik diamond mine. Partners in this training
endeavour include Aurora College, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and
Canadian governments, NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines, NWT Mine Training
Committee, the Dogrib Rae Band, the Kitikmeot Inuit Association and the
hamlet of Kugluktuk.
The Diavik diamonds project is an unincorporated joint venture between
Diavik Diamond Mines Inc. (60 per cent) and Aber Diamond Mines (40 per
cent). Both companies are headquartered in Yellowknife. DDMI is a wholly
owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto PLC of London, England, and Aber Diamond
Mines Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Aber Diamond of Toronto, Ont. |
