Diavik Diamond Mine

The Diavik Diamond Mine is located in the North Slave Region in the Northwest Territories of Canada, approximately 300 km north of Yellowknife.

As an important regional economic factor it employs 700 employees, CAN bets $ 100 million in sales to and promotes 8 million carats or 1.6 tons of diamonds annually. Research in this area began in 1992, the construction of the mine began in 2001 to accommodate the regular operation in January 2003. The mine is connected to the Tibbitt to Contwoyto winter road, which exists only two months a year, and has the airport Diavik Airport with a 1,596 -meter gravel runway, which is designed for the Boeing 737.

When the owner of the mine is a joint venture between the Harry Winston Diamond Corporation and Diavik Diamond Mines Inc., a subsidiary of Rio Tinto Group. The operating time of the mine is estimated at 16 to 22 years.

The mine is located on a 20 square kilometer island in Lac de Gras and is informally called "East Iceland ". It is located 220 km south of the Arctic Circle.

Due to the mild winter of 2006 the ice road was late already opened and closed early, which meant that Diavik had flown the residual charge to maintain the operation.

The Diavik mine was the subject of the documentary series Ice Road Truckers.