Snap Lake Diamond Mine

The Snap Lake Diamond Mine is located 220 km northeast of Yellowknife in Canada's Northwest Territories. It is run by De Beers, the largest diamond producer and merchant in the world. According to De Beers, it is her first pure diamond - Pit Mine outside of Africa and the first in Canada.

Construction of the mine began with the opening of the ice road Tibbitt to Contwoyto winter road in the winter of 2005 and production started on January 16, 2008. On 25 July 2008 the mine officially opened. You should be at least 20 years template: Future / Remain in 5 years in operation.

The annual production rose from 440,000 carats in 2009 and in 2010 reached 926,000 carats with all time highs. Since then, the production decreases; 2012 were funded 870,000 carats. At full production of 1.1 million tons and 1.5 million carats to be achieved.

In 2012 757 people were employed at the mine; 275 belonged to the local population, 109 were women. The total cost of the mine were the end of 2012 at C $ 1.9 billion.

The Snap Lake Mine was part of the documentary series Ice Road Truckers and the Discovery Channel documentary "Daily Planet Goes North - More Ice for the Arctic". The ice road can be used 6 to 8 weeks a year to supply the mine with equipment. Outside this period, the mine can be reached only by plane.