Field Trip 01

Northwest Territories Diamond Mines

Coordinators: Barrett Elliott (Northwest Territories Geological Survey) and Gary Vivian (Aurora Geosciences Ltd.)

Location: Based in Yellowknife

Transport: Charter planes to and from each of the mines (flight time: approximately 1.5 hours) and road transport within Yellowknife

Description: This four-day field trip is based in Yellowknife. The first three days comprise one-day visits to each of the Northwest Territories’ three operating diamond mines: Ekati, Canada’s first diamond mine courtesy of Arctic Canadian Diamond Company; Diavik, courtesy of Diavik Diamond Mines, and Gahcho Kuè Mine, courtesy of De Beers Canada Inc. and Mountain Province Diamonds Inc.. The fourth day will be spent in Yellowknife where drillcore from the advanced Kennady North Kimberlite Project, adjacent to the Gahcho Kuè Mine, will be viewed courtesy of Mountain Province Diamonds Inc.. Breakfasts, lunches and one group dinner will be provided and we will be returning to the hotels in Yellowknife in the evenings. The group will meet up for breakfast each morning at the Chateau Nova Hotel where field trip and overview information will be provided. After breakfast on the first three days, ground transport will be provided to the airport to board a charter flight to that day’s mine site. The mine visits will include project overviews, examination of kimberlite drill core as well as open pit, process plant and diamond recovery tours. Photographs will be allowed for some portions of the tours. On the fourth day ground transport will be provided to the Kennady North Project core logging facility in Yellowknife. The sampling of kimberlite on each of the sites will not be permitted, but prepared kimberlite samples will be provided to participants on the final day when there will be an opportunity to pack and courier samples.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) will be required especially for each mine visit. Hard hats will be provided. Participants will be required to provide their own steel toed safety boots. Field trips participants will have to use other Personal Protective Equipment such as long sleeved shirts, full length trousers, reflective safety vests, jackets or overalls, safety goggles, safety ear plugs and gloves.

FT01 Collage
Top Row: Aerial view of the Diavik Diamond Mine with from left to right the A418 and larger A154 open pits surrounded by the water of Lac de Gras and the Diavik processing plant (photos courtesy of Diavik Diamond Mines). Second Row: View from within one open pit and an aerial view of the Ekati Diamond Mine with open pits in foreground from back left to right: Koala, Koala North, Panda and Beartooth (photos courtesy of and Copyright © Arctic Canadian Diamond Company). Third Row: 2019 aerial view of the Gahcho Kuè Mine with the Hearne in the foreground and 5034 open pits (photos courtesy of De Beers Canada). Bottom Row: Drillcore and winter drilling from the Kennady North Kimberlite project (photos courtesy of Mountain Province Diamonds Inc.).