DIAMOND PROPERTY TRANSACTIONS UPDATE

摘要

As illustrated in Figure 1 below, diamond acquisition activity from July 2004 to June 2005 was the most active period in terms of the number of transactions since 1999 and third in dollar volume. The 2000-2001 period was by far the largest in dollar volume, mainly because of De Beers's acquisition of the feasibility-stage Snap Lake project in the Northwest Territories in three separate transactions totaling 323.8 million dollars. In May 2005, De Beers planned to invest 504,9 million dollars (636 million C dollars) to build Snap Lake, its first mine in Canada. Full production of 1.5 million ct/y is expected to begin in 2008, with a 20-year mine life. Resources are 26.7 million carats contained in 18.3 million mt of kimberlite grading 1.46 ct/mt.