A shot of Gahcho Kué mine. (Supplied by DeBeers Canada.)
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Gahcho Kué Mine sees early, unexpected success in first year

Cameron Wilkinson
By Cameron Wilkinson

The Gahcho Kué Mine has reached a massive milestone in it’s first year of commercial production.

The Northwest Territories mine has surpassed 5 million carats of diamonds. It passed it’s set annual goal of 4.5 million in October. The higher than expected production has helped play a major role in De Beer’s global production, as GK has supported a significant rise in the Group’s overall rough diamond production levels over the first three quarters of 2017.

De Beers Canada CEO Kim Truter says much of the early success can be attributed to the tremendous project phase that set the mine up with the right technical, safety and economic cultures.

“Having the right team in place for the project phase allowed us and our contract partners to build the mine ahead of time and on budget, no easy feat for a remote operation located on the edge of the Arctic Circle,” says Truter. “We have built three mines in the last 10 years in Canada, giving us the most experience regarding recruiting, planning, construction and project execution of any mining company in the country over the last decade, positioning us very well for continued future growth as opportunities emerge.”

For more information on how Gahcho Kué made the top three international projects of the year, you can access the PMI Project of the Year video feature on Gahcho Kué here.

Cameron Wilkinson
Cameron Wilkinson
News Reporter

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