De Beers Canada has received two major international awards, with the Critical Business Systems (CBS) team being recognized for its work in designing the information technology infrastructure for Gahcho Kué Mine.
The team has been named winner of the North American and Global Architecture Excellence Awards in the category of IT Infrastructure. The awards were presented on September 11 in Washington, D.C. during the Architecture World Summit, hosted by iCMG – an international enterprise and IT architecture firm with offices around the world. At the same event, David Heppenstall, Chief Information Officer for De Beers Group of Companies received the Business CIO Award while John Cooper received the award for Chief IT Architect.
De Beers Canada Chief Executive Officer Kim Truter congratulated the CBS team (aptly named because of the criticality to our business in Canada) and said these awards build on the world-class operating culture found across the company in Canada.
“These awards are the result of innovation and forward thinking found at all levels inside De Beers Canada as we prepared to open the world’s largest new diamond mine with Gahcho Kué,” said Truter. “It is also the second international award win for us this year, in additional to several regional and national awards in 2017, making De Beers Canada a recognized leader in diamonds and mining across Canada and globally. We’ll continue to build on this momentum as we position ourselves for long-term success and sustainability in Canada.”
De Beers Canada Critical Systems Manager Alex MacKay said his team was proud to play a key role in development of the remotely located Gahcho Kué Mine, the company’s third in Canada.
“This is significant recognition for the work by our team to design the computer and data network needed to support Gahcho Kué Mine, which is located on the tundra of Canada’s Northwest Territories hundreds of kilometres from the nearest infrastructure,” said MacKay. “The IT infrastructure at the mine has to be robust and reliable to withstand extreme Arctic conditions and provide an effective two-way data and voice connection with our operational support centre in Calgary and rest of the company
Gahcho Kué Mine began commercial production in March 2017 following two years of construction. The latest milestone is completion of a tower that will link the mine to the microwave network connecting the other NWT diamond mines to the NorthwesTel voice and data network and installation of a fibre optic cable connecting various areas of the mine site. The new microwave link is expected to be in operation by the end of this month.
Gahcho Kué Mine is located 280 km northeast of Yellowknife, NWT. The mine, a joint venture between De Beers Canada (51% - the Operator) and Mountain Province Diamonds (49%), began commercial production in March 2017 following two years of construction. The mine will recover an average of 4.5 million carats of diamonds annually during a 12 year life of mine.