Canada: A Diamond-Producing Nation

For many years, the thought of finding diamonds in Canada was little more than a prospector's dream. That dream became a reality following the discovery, in the 1990s, of several world-class diamond-bearing deposits in Canada's North.

Diamond exploration began in Canada in as early as the 1960s, but major kimberlite discoveries were not made until the 1980s. In 1991, the first economic diamond deposit was discovered in the Lac de Gras area of the Northwest Territories. Canada became a diamond producer in October 1998 when the Ekati diamond mine opened about 300 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife. By April 1999, the mine produced 1 Mct. By 2003, Canada was the world's third largest diamond producer on a value basis after Botswana and Russia. Ekati's average production over its projected 20-year life is expected at 3–5 Mct/y, accounting for about 3% of world production by volume.