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Gold/Mining/Energy : Canadian Diamond Play Cafi -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Natedog who wrote (1594)	11/19/2003 9:23:37 AM
From: rdww	Respond to of 16206

De Beers says diamond project could generate up to 400 jobs By Gregory Reynolds Wednesday, November 19, 2003 - 07:00 Local News - A river of money has to be poured into the muskeg in the Attawapiskat area before a stream of diamonds comes out. An attentive audience of more than 150 people was given an update Tuesday evening on De Beers Canada’s Victor diamond project in the James Bay Lowlands. The company has spent $60 million on exploration and studies, is spending another $25 million on the feasibility stage and will need $825 million for capital costs (construction, equipment, facilities). It will be a fully-tendered project, broken into several components, rather then design-build. Mine life is expected to be 12 years, 2007-19. De Beers mine manager Tony George gave a detailed report at the meeting hosted by members of the Porcupine Geological Discussion Group at the Days Inn. Despite the optimism, George said the project has been set back a year for environmental reasons. Once the 26 to 30 required permits from the provincial and federal governments have been obtained, the De Beers board of directors will be asked to fund the development stage. “It was slated to go the board last month but now it is planned for October 2004,” he said. “Of course, that will depend if the Environmental Assessment is completed. “We still don’t have the scoping report (list of federal requests) from Natural Resources Canada but expect it soon.” In answer to a question as to what would happen if the company can’t get federal approval, George said he couldn’t see that happening as the process has started and there was “no fatal flaw” in it. The construction phase will be in 2005-06 and there will be a 600-person camp on site about 90 kilometres west of Attawapiskat. A pre-condition is an Impact Benefit Agreement with that community. The company will mine more than 29 million tonnes of ore containing an estimated six million carats of diamonds. The diamonds are of “extremely high quality” as compared to those being produced from two mines in the Northwest Territories, he said. “Once production starts in 2007, the project will employ about 400 persons with 240 of them on site.” Where the off-site workers will be located hasn’t been decided yet, George said, but a small office will be needed for recruiting, training, and expediting material up north.