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De Beers Group of Companies has welcomed the Interim Approval decision by the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board (MVLWB) for the Extended Care and Maintenance and Water Management plans for its Snap Lake mine in the Northwest Territories. The Interim Approval requires the inclusion of commitments De Beers made during the Stakeholder review process into our updated plans. De Beers has agreed to the revisions and anticipates submitting the updated ECM plan by this Thursday, June 30th, with the updated ECM Water Management Plan to follow shortly thereafter.
Snap Lake was put on care and maintenance in December 2015, following a review of the mine’s operation in light of market conditions. The MVLWB’s decision will now enable the preservation of the mine’s significant diamond resource in the ground for potential production in the future.
De Beers will now begin the planning and subsequent work required to remove underground workings of Snap Lake Mine to flood responsibly, minimizing the flow of water into the receiving environment and significantly reducing the operation’s total environmental impact. This will improve the sustainability of the mine during suspended operations so that it can be held as a long-term asset.
Kim Truter, Chief Executive Officer of De Beers Canada, said: “We are grateful to all the parties who participated in the review process, in particular the valuable inputs from our Aboriginal, business and government partners. We remain focused on preserving the significant diamond resource within the Snap Lake mine.”