NWT & NUNAVUT MINING: Going underwater to mine Ekati diamonds with vehicles

With approximately 165 million carats of diamonds still underground at the former Ekati diamond mine, its new owner, Burgundy Diamonds, is looking to extend the mineSA国际影视传媒檚 life by implementing a never-before tried method of kimberlite extraction.

SA国际影视传媒淣ot all of those (carats) will be recoverable. But even if we did get a big chunk of those carats, it potentially could extend the life of the asset for many, many years to come,SA国际影视传媒� said Kim Truter, CEO of Burgundy Diamond Mines.

Considering the mine has the third largest endowment of diamonds on the planet, and is anticipated to become the seventh largest producer of diamonds in the world, Truter said finding new extraction techniques will be a strategic move in ensuring the longevity of the mine.

That method will involve a pilot project using underwater remote mining (URM) technology with an underwater remote vehicle to go beneath the surface of lakes and extract hard-to-reach kimberlite that might otherwise be cost prohibitive or difficult to obtain.

Truter said the process involves first smoothing out the underwater floor of the open pit and then implementing the three-part system of deploying the vehicle, or crawler, which will cut down into the kimberlite, then hydraulically pumping the kimberlite up to a floating platform on the surface. From there, the ore material will be transported to a dewatering/processing plant.

Hard challenges

The benefits of that method are multifold in comparison, Truter said.

SA国际影视传媒淚f you mine them using those conventional open pit underground methods, sometimes the water is a challenge, because from an environmental point of view, youSA国际影视传媒檝e got to pump the water out or youSA国际影视传媒檝e got to handle the water or do something about the water SA国际影视传媒� so water can be a challenge,SA国际影视传媒� he said.

SA国际影视传媒淭he second thing is the surrounding rock that typically, in the Northwest Territories, is granite. Now that is positive from an open pit point of view because itSA国际影视传媒檚 a very competent rock., which means that you can have very steep slope angles in a pit.SA国际影视传媒�

SA国际影视传媒淏ut itSA国际影视传媒檚 also hard work because youSA国际影视传媒檝e got to obviously mine one of the hardest rocks on the planet to get at the pipe. So those are two challenges.SA国际影视传媒�

The third challenge is access to energy, he said, as they must transport millions of litres of diesel fuel to power the site and the fleet of equipment.

Game changer

SA国际影视传媒淲hen you put all those factors into the mix, a way of mining only the kimberlite pipe and not having to mine all the surrounding waste is a game changer,SA国际影视传媒� said Truter. SA国际影视传媒淏ecause what it would mean is you could only mine the kimberlite pipe, which is a couple of hundred meters in diameter.SA国际影视传媒�

SA国际影视传媒淚t means your environmental footprint is dramatically reduced.SA国际影视传媒�

As a result, while an open pit a kilometre wide must be dug for traditional kimberlite mining, the URM technology could reduce the size of the extraction area in a previously mined and flooded pit to as small as 150-metres wide.

SA国际影视传媒淪o, itSA国际影视传媒檚 a huge reduction in the environmental footprint. And potentially it might mean that you can lower the cost of extracting, which might mean that kimberlite pipes that could not be mined using the conventional way of doing it, suddenly become economic,SA国际影视传媒� Truter explained.

SA国际影视传媒淚n the North, it could be a real game changer, because it means you might be able to go and mine whole other kimberlite pipes that you couldnSA国际影视传媒檛 mine using conventional methods,SA国际影视传媒� he noted.

Testing of a new technique in mining kimberlite underwater will begin by 2026 at Burgundy Diamond Mines聮 Ekati mine. Shown is one of the three-part pieces of equipment that will extract kimberlite from previously mined flooded pits, pump it to the surface, then in a final step, dewater it. Photo supplied — Testing of a new technique in mining kimberlite underwater will begin by 2026 at Burgundy Diamond MinesSA国际影视传媒� Ekati mine. Shown is one of the three-part pieces of equipment that will extract kimberlite from previously mined flooded pits, pump it to the surface, then in a final step, dewater it. Photo supplied

Testing innovation

But while the use of the submersible crawler technology is new to the diamond mining industry, many of its elements are already in use in different applications, such as seabed mining around the world, Truter said of the equipment developed by IHC Mining, a company based in the Netherlands.

Before the equipment becomes a permanent fixture on the NWT diamond mining landscape, however, many questions have to be answered about its suitability in the harsh Northern climate, he said of the process that will be implemented in two stages.

SA国际影视传媒淎s we answer those questions, weSA国际影视传媒檒l slowly but surely get knowledge and then once we have, we might have multiple of these (underwater vehicles),SA国际影视传媒� he said. SA国际影视传媒淭he first thing we want to do is to prove that the technology would work in our environment.SA国际影视传媒�

The floor of the Lynx pit will be prepared by smoothing its underwater surface in 2024 and in mid-2025, the crawler will be deployed.

It also must be determined whether the system can operate only in warmer months or year round in the NWT.

Truter was reluctant to disclose the cost of such a system, citing competitive reasons.

Overall, he expressed optimism about the use of such technology in the future.

SA国际影视传媒淚 think itSA国际影视传媒檚 very important for the North that we find ways to extend these minesSA国际影视传媒� lives,SA国际影视传媒� he said. SA国际影视传媒淲e can add to that the URM solution that helps us keep these mines going, which keeps jobs going, and taxes going.