DIAMOND PIPELINE, 2006

摘要

Beginning with the Ekati discovery in Canada's Northwest Territories in the early 1990s, diamond exploration spending has become an increasingly significant part of total world exploration spending-- rising to 12.8 percent in 2005 from 7.2 percent in 1996, with a high of 14.6 percent in 2003--and has totaled dollar 3.2 billion during the 1996-2005 period. During this ten-year period, 22 different operators have brought 28 new diamond mines info production, although most of the mines were small and many were alluvial deposits. As illustrated in Figure 1 below, the capacity of new diamond mines totaled more than 1 million ct/y in only five of the past ten years. The largest new mine in the period was the Rio Tinto 60 percent /Aber Resources 40 percent joint venture at Diavik in Canada's Northwest Territories, which started production in 2003 and produced 8.3 million ct of diamonds in 2005 at an average recovered grade of 3.72 ct/mt. Diavik is expected to produce 7-9 million ct/y until at least 2010. The second-largest new diamond mine of the last decade is also in the Northwest Territories, BHP Billiton's wholly-owned Ekati mine. In April 2001, BHP Billiton bought out its 29 percent joint venture partner, Dia Met Minerals, for dollar 435 million. At the end of June 2005, Ekati production capacity was 4.5 million ct/y, with proven and probable reserves of 28.41 million ct of diamonds.