The first discovery of diamonds in Canada occurred in 1991 at Point Lake near Lac de Gras in the Northwest Territories, 300 km northeast of Yellowknife. In October 1998 diamonds were mined in Canada for the first time, at the Ekati mine near Lac de Gras. Annual production at the mine began at 3 million carats per year and its expected annual average is 3 - 5 million ct. The mine's lifespan is estimated to be 20 years. The majority of the diamonds produced at Ekati are of gem quality. Ekati is now closed but many more Diamond mines are in operation. Do you know how many operational Diamond mInes are in Canada today?

Snap Lake Mine, De Beers' first diamond mine outside of Africa, is 220 kilometers northeast of Yellowknife. Snap Lake is Canada's first completely underground diamond mine. "Ice highways" are a reality in the frozen arctic reaches of Canada. Literally, a Canadian diamond mines very creation and continuing existence depends on frigid temperatures. Most mining locales have airfields but it is trucks that perform the heavy lifting on the front-end providing infrastructure and building materials. Ice highways are formed every year stretching up to 200 miles and as wide as a football field. Covering nearly half a million miles of land the Canadian NWT (Northwest Territories) is above the tree line - remote and barren. This is where cold is COLD - exposed skin freezes quickly. One second you feel your hand, the next it is numb. Super frigid minus 50 Celsius is not unheard of with minus 30 - 40 being common. With or without wind those temps are bitterly cold. Have you ever experienced frigid temperatures?

Located in the Lac de Gras region are the Diavik and Ekati mines. Geographically speaking, they are only 120 miles from The Arctic Circle. All these freezing figures contrast what is necessary for diamonds to form in the first place. The kimberlite "pipes" loaded with demands that every miner dreams of finding was once volcanic magma over 1,200 F. Without this heat natural diamonds wouldn't exist. With that in mind it is a bit ironic that frigid temperatures must be endured to free these now cold carats from their once molten magma resting place. The pipes being mined were originally on the bottom of Lac De Gras and were discovered by drilling through the ice. To mine the pipes, a dike was built around them, then the water was pumped out. Open-pit mining then began on the lake bottom, with the mine being kept dry by pumps maintaining a groundwater cone of depression. The first ore production occurred in 2003. Production moved underground in 2010 as the surface-mineable ore was depleted. The transition from surface to underground mining was completed in 2012. That same year, Diavik completed construction of a 9.2-megawatt wind farm that provides over 10% of the electric power used by the mine. Did you know that this mine was powered with green energy?

In late 2015 the Diavik Foxfire was unearthed. At 187.7 carats, it was the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever discovered in Canada (at that time). It is also believed to have formed hundreds of kilometers below the Earth's surface an estimated 2 billion years ago. The Diavik Stars of the Arctic: In October, 2018, Rio Tinto and Dominion Diamond Mines announced that three spectacular diamonds produced from the jointly-owned Diavik Mine would be sold at auction. The collection includes three named specimens: "Vega of the Arctic", a 177.71-carat diamond which they report is "one of the largest and most valuable gem-quality rough diamonds ever produced in Canada"; "Altair of the Arctic", a 59.10-carat diamond; and, "Capella of the Arctic", a 24.82-carat yellow diamond. Capella is an extremely rare find. In an average year, the Diavik mine only produces about five large yellow diamonds, representing less than 0.001 percent of annual production. What would you do with the world's largest diamond?

Victor, the first Ontario mine, and fifth Canadian Diamond mine opened in 2008 located in the James Bay Lowlands of Northern Ontario, about 50 miles west of Attawapiskatand. It is well known for exceptional rough diamonds that have commanded upwards of $400/carat on the "rough" market. It is an open-pit mine owned by De Beers. Diamonds were produced from one of sixteen diamondiferous kimberlite pipes on the property. Production at Victor commenced in July 2008. The mine was expected to produce an average of about 600,000 carats per year through a productive life of about ten years, with a total production of about 6 million carats of gem-quality diamonds. De Beers stopped mining at Victor in March 2019 and processed the last of the productive ore in May 2019. The mine exceeded its anticipated production by over 2 million carats. Do you think they will exhaust the diamond supply in the world?.