Shear recovers 200 carats of diamonds from Jericho mine

Shear Diamonds Ltd. is forging ahead with its plans to get the mothballed Jericho diamond mine south of Kugluktuk back in operation. (FILE PHOTO)

Shear Diamonds Ltd. announced this week that it had recovered its first 200 carats of diamonds from the Jericho diamond mine.

The diamonds, recovered from tailings discarded when the mine was in operation from 2006 to 2008, included 14 stones greater than .5 carats, with the largest stone nearly two carats in size.

“The recoveries are an important part of proving Jericho’s real potential, and speaks to the lost grade from past operations,” said Julie Lassonde, chief executive officer and chair of Shear. “Shear’s ultimate goal is to generate cash flow from diamond sales in the coming months and continuing through all of 2012.”

The diamond recovery process includes on-site processing of material through a crusher, an X-ray sorter, and manual sorting.

When Shear bought Jericho two years ago, it acquired a recovery plant, maintenance facility, fuel farm, offices, accommodation for 225 staff, an open pit and an estimated three million carats of diamonds underground.

From 2006 to 2008, the mine, 420 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife and 200 km southeast of Kugluktuk, produced 780,000 carats of diamonds from 1.2 million tonnes of kimberlite mined at its open pit operation.

More than $200 million was invested in the development of the Jericho operations.

But diamonds left in tailings were one of Jericho’s main problems: Jericho’s processing plant apparently didn’t work properly, shooting out tonnes of useable and marketable diamonds along with waste rock.

This year Shear sunk $4 million into exploration at the mine site and surrounding properties. Its goal was to shore up the known diamond resources, with the aim of doubling the quantities and the previous estimated nine-year lifespan for the mine.

Shear’s dream is to see Jericho become a “small, nice” mine, unlike Diavik’s diamond mine in the Northwest Territories, which is 20 times larger.

When Jericho shut down in 2008, about 200 Inuit from the Kitikmeot had jobs connected with the mine.

Shear submitted a Type A Water Licence renewal application to the Nunavut Water Board last February.

After a technical meeting and pre-hearing conference, the NWB approved the pre-hearing conference decision.

A NWB public hearing on Shear’s plans for the Jericho mine is scheduled for Oct. 12 and 13 in Kugluktuk.