Monitoring Diavik

Located on a 20 square kilometre island in Lac de Gras, Diavik is approximately 300 km by air northeast of Yellowknife, the capital city of the Northwest Territories, in northern Canada.

Diavik mines diamond ore bodies, commonly called kimberlite pipes. The pipes, located in shallow waters of Lac de Gras, are small compared to the world average, but they contain a higher than average content of attractive, high quality, and readily marketable diamonds.

To safely access the pipes, Diavik constructs dikes allowing the overlying waters to be removed temporarily. Diavik completed the first dike encircling the A154 North and A154 South pipes, and virtually all of the physical plant in 2002. Construction of a second dike, the A418 dike, began during the summer of 2005, and was completed in 2007. Mining at A154 and A418 went underground in 2013 and A21 was completed in 2018. 

For more information about Diavik, visit www.diavik.com

What is the mine's environmental setting?

Lac de Gras is a large lake roughly in the center of the Slave Geological Province, north of the tree line, and in Canada’s Southern Arctic ecozone. The area is cold and dry. The lake is the headwaters of the Coppermine River, which flows 520 kilometres north to the Arctic Ocean. Lac de Gras is typical of arctic lakes in being quite cold with long ice-covered periods, with little food for fish and other creatures. Fish species include lake trout, cisco, round whitefish, arctic grayling and burbot. Lac de Gras is also near the centre of the range of the Bathurst caribou herd. The population is now estimated at 6240 as of 2021. Many other animals include the Lac de Gras area in their home ranges, such as grizzly bear, wolves and wolverines, smaller mammals, migratory birds and waterfowl.

To see recommendations, click here.