Ekati Diamond Mine

The Ekati Diamond Mine, often simply called Ekati, is Canada's first surface and underground diamond mine and is owned by Burgundy Diamond Mines. It is located 310 km north-east of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, and about 200 km south of the Arctic Circle, near Lac de Gras. Until 2014, Ekati was a joint venture between Dominion Diamond Mines (80%), Chuck Fipke, and Stewart Blusson, the two geologists who discovered kimberlite pipes north of Lac de Gras. Fipke and Blusson each held 10% stake in the mine, until Fipke sold his share to Dominion. In 2021, Arctic Canadian Diamond Company Ltd. acquired the Ekati Diamond Mine with associated assets and liabilities from Dominion Diamond Mines. In July 2023, Burgundy Diamond Mines purchased full control of Arctic Canadian Diamond Company.

History
The first volcanic pipe found in the Lac de Gras region was the Point Lake kimberlite, discovered by Chuck Fipke and Stewart Blusson who had been prospecting in the region for almost ten years, having found kimberlite indicator minerals as early as 1985. The Point Lake kimberlite was determined to be uneconomic, but its discovery precipitated one of largest staking rushes in mining history, covering most of the area between Yellowknife and the Arctic coast. There are 156 known kimberlite pipes within the Ekati block of claims, including the Point Lake pipe. Ekati officially began operations on October 14, 1998, and was operated by BHP. Since the opening until 2017, the mine produced around 67800000 carat of diamonds and is still in production.

In 2023 Ekati Diamond Mine celebrated its 25th anniversary.

As of July 2023, the mine has been owned by Burgundy Diamond Mines. There are currently three underground kimberlites (Ko Koala North, and Panda) and the rest are mined by surface mining. As of 2024, the active operations include Sable and Misery underground with Point Lake ready to go into production as an open pits later in the year.

Geology
Diamonds at the Ekati site are found in 45- to 62-million-year-old kimberlite pipes (Creaser et al., 2004) of the Lac de Gras kimberlite field, most of which lie underneath shallow lakes. The mining needs the construction of frozen dam cores with heat pipes that inhibits water transfer to the open pit during mining activities.

Mining and marketing
Between 1998 and 2009, the mine has produced 40000000 carat of diamonds out of six open pits. As the high grade ore close to surface was depleted, development was completed to access the ore utilizing underground methods. The mine's current annual production is estimated to be approximately 7500000 carat of diamonds.

There are numerous options to extend the mine life at Ekati through 2028 including continuation of Misery underground at depth, evaluation alternatives for expansion at Point Lake, transforming Sable to an underground operation following open pit completion, exploring Fox as an underground opportunity and maximizing resources in the Fox stockpile. In addition, the underwater remote mining provides additional opportunities to extract diamonds through kimberlite pipes with a trial that will start at Lynx pit in 2025.

Transportation
Mine workers fly-in fly-out through Ekati Airport.