De Beers considers carbon-neutral diamond mine near Iqaluit

De Beers has set an ambitious goal to make the Chidliak project its first carbon neutral diamond mine, nunavutnews.com writes.
The project is located on the Hall Peninsula of Baffin Island, approximately 200 kilometres south of Pangnirtung and about 120 kilometres from Iqaluit.
Due to the large number of kimberlite pipes – carrot-shaped geologic formations that often contain diamonds – De Beers is looking to design the operation using high-tech mining techniques, according to De Beers spokesperson Terry Kruger.
Some of these technologies include modular buildings that could easily be moved from place to place, precision mining techniques, virtual technologies and renewable energy.
The company is also considering “heavy lift cargo airships, which means De Beers might be planning to operate the mine without building an expensive road to the remote region.
Exploration work has identified 74 kimberlite pipes at the site, of which 41 could be gem-producing.
The main deposit, named CH-6, contains about 18 million carats in around 7.5 million tonnes of kimberlite. A smaller pipe, CH-7, is estimated to contain roughly 4.2 million carats in about 5.0 million tonnes of kimberlite.
This year, work will centre on environmental studies that will include travelling to the site in the early summer and early fall.
De Beers Canada acquired the Chidliak project from Peregrine Diamonds in September 2018.

Alex Shishlo for Rough&Polished