De Beers Group and Mountain Province Diamonds today announced that their joint venture Gahcho Kue mine has surpassed $2 billion of procurement spend with businesses in the Northwest Territories (NWT) since construction of the mine commenced in 2015.
The milestone represents 61% of the total $3.2 billion spent on procurement for Gahcho Kue since 2015, in line with Gahcho Kue's commitment to procure at least 60% of the goods and services required to build and operate the mine from companies located in the NWT.
Avischen Moodley, Country President - De Beers Canada, said: 'This major economic milestone highlights the value Gahcho Kue brings to Indigenous communities, businesses, and the territory. Our NWT business partners continue to demonstrate their ability to provide world-class goods and services that are essential to the successful operation of the mine.'
NWT and Indigenous businesses provide a wide range of goods and services to Gahcho Kue, including welding, transportation logistics, trucking support, passenger and cargo flights, labour services and camp catering.
Mark Wall, CEO of Mountain Province Diamonds, said: 'Since the mine began, Gahcho Kue has had an impressive track record of socio-economic contributions and environmental stewardship in the NWT. That track record continues to strengthen, with Gahcho Kue recording its highest ever level of spending with NWT businesses in 2023.'
According to the NWT Bureau of Statistics, diamond mining is the largest contributor to the NWT's Gross Domestic Product, representing $588 million of the territory's $4.25 billion GDP in 2023.
Key elements of the economic contribution of the Gahcho Kue mine include the following:
Gahcho Kue has a tiered contracting structure that gives preference to Indigenous and NWT businesses.
Since 2006, $5.3 billion has been spent with local and Indigenous business in the Northwest Territories and Northern Ontario by Gahcho Kue and De Beers Group's wholly owned Snap Lake (NWT) and Victor (Ontario) mines. (Snap Lake and Victor are now in active closure).
In 2023, 69% of the Gahcho Kue mine spend was with NWT and Indigenous companies, totalling $228 million, the highest amount spent with NWT businesses since construction.
In 2023, $90 million was spent with companies operated by the mine's Impact Benefit Agreement communities.
From 2006-2023, Gahcho Kue and Snap Lake mines have contributed a combined $26.5 million in social investment within the NWT.
Gahcho Kue has also made significant payments to Indigenous communities in terms of six Impact Benefit Agreements and has paid resource royalties to the Government of the NWT.
Gahcho Kue mine is located 280 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife. The mine was built in 2015 and 2016 and was officially opened in 2016. In 2023, the mine provided 663 full-time equivalent jobs, including 245 jobs held by NWT residents.
Contact:
Terry Kruger
Sr. Communications Officer
Tel: 1 867 679 6431
Email: terry.kruger@debeersgroup.com
About De Beers Group
Established in 1888, De Beers Group is the world's leading diamond company with expertise in the exploration, mining, marketing and retailing of diamonds. Together with its joint venture partners, De Beers Group employs more than 20,000 people across the diamond pipeline and is the world's largest diamond producer by value, with diamond mining operations in Botswana, Canada, Namibia and South Africa. Innovation sits at the heart of De Beers Group's strategy as it develops a portfolio of offers that span the diamond value chain, including its jewellery houses, De Beers Jewellers and Forevermark, and other pioneering solutions such as diamond sourcing and traceability initiatives Tracr and GemFair. De Beers Group also provides leading services and technology to the diamond industry in the form of education and laboratory services via De Beers Institute of Diamonds and a wide range of diamond sorting, detection and classification technology systems via De Beers Group Ignite. De Beers Group is committed to 'Building Forever,' a holistic and integrated approach for creating a better future - where safety, human rights and ethical integrity continue to be paramount; where communities thrive and the environment is protected and where there are equal opportunities for all. De Beers Group is a member of the Anglo American plc group. For further information, visit www.debeersgroup.com.
About Mountain Province Diamonds Inc.
Mountain Province Diamonds is a 49% participant with De Beers Canada in the Gahcho Kue diamond mine located in Canada's Northwest Territories. The Gahcho Kue Joint Venture property consists of several kimberlites that are actively being mined, developed, and explored for future development. The Company also controls more than 113,000 hectares of highly prospective mineral claims and leases surrounding the Gahcho Kue Mine that include an Indicated mineral resource for the Kelvin kimberlite and Inferred mineral resources for the Faraday kimberlites. Kelvin is estimated to contain 13.62 million carats (Mct) in 8.50 million tonnes (Mt) at a grade of 1.60 carats/tonne and value of US$63/carat, at February 2019. Faraday 2 is estimated to contain 5.45Mct in 2.07Mt at a grade of 2.63 carats/tonne and value of US$140/ct, at February 2019. Faraday 1-3 is estimated to contain 1.90Mct in 1.87Mt at a grade of 1.04 carats/tonne and value of US$75/carat, at February 2019. All resource estimations are based on a 1mm diamond size bottom cut-off.
MOUNTAIN PROVINCE DIAMONDS INC. 
