De Beers received permission from a Northwest Territories regulatory board to close its Snap Lake diamond mine, CBC News reported.
The Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board said that it has granted a 15-year licence to De Beers Canada to remediate the mine.
Image credit: De Beers
According to the report, the cleanup plan includes demolishing all buildings at the site, capping and contouring waste rock piles and creating two wetlands to filter runoff from those piles before it re-enters Snap Lake.
The licence allows eight years for that work, plus five years of monitoring after it is done, plus a two-year cushion for any unexpected challenges.
De Beers is required to post a $31.1-million security deposit for the closure.
The mine is located 220 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife.
As per the report, the company spent $2.2 billion to build and operate the mine.
At the end of 2015 De Beers mothballed its Canadian Snap Lake mine due to its low profitability.
Alex Shishlo, Editor of the Rough&Polished European Bureau
