On June 13, 2010 Poag’s staff took at trip to the Ontario Diamond cutting facility in Sudbury, Ontario. Here is a little recap of how our trip went!
We started out at 5:00am in front of the store, all a little groggy – but very excited for the adventure ahead of us! Everyone settled in for our seven hour drive – pillows and iPods all around.
Upon our arrival at the facility we were happy to get a chance to stretch our legs and were warmly greeted by the staff at the facility.
We were given a fantastic and in depth tour of the factory. We started out by having the opportunity to handle pieces of rough diamonds from the Ontario mine. This gave us a chance to see all the interesting characteristics as well as the incredible quality of the rough that is coming out of the mine.
We then moved to the imaging machine – a piece of technology that can map out the rough diamond and show the different options available for the different sizes of diamond that can be cut from the rough. Next was the laser machine – an incredible sight! This piece of technology fills an entire room, its purpose is to fill the order given by the imaging machine by cutting the rough into two pieces. The amazing part is that with traditional techniques, the cutting process would take a whole day – with the laser it only takes 8-12 minutes!
The most exciting part of the trip was the opportunity to see the diamond cutters at work - a team of thirty people, all working at different stages of fashioning the rough into the beautiful diamonds we have available in the store. We were all given a chance to sit at a cutting wheel and try our hand at cutting diamonds! The staff was incredibly friendly and were happy to answer any questions we had about the diamond cutting process.
It was a long day, but definitely worth the trek to Sudbury for such an amazing experience!
Victor Mine
One of Mother Nature’s true beauties is now available exclusively in Southwestern Ontario from Poag Jewellers! Ontario diamonds are the newest addition to our fantastic product line up – and a true local luxury.
The diamonds are extracted from the Victor mine, located in the James Bay lowlands of Northern Ontario, 500km northwest of Timmins. The mine is owned by DeBeers Canada, and is the first diamond mine to be established in Ontario. The search for Kimberlitic pipes within Canada began way back in the 1960’s, but was shelved until 1995 when new interest arose for the project. For the project to be given the green light, approval needed to be given from the local First Nations peoples in the area as well as elaborate environmental studies to ensure the protection of the wildlife and habitat in the area.
The James Bay area is made up of 18 kimberlitic pipes 16 of which contain diamonds. The mine is operated as an open-pit mine as the diamond pipes are close enough to the surface for the diamonds to be extracted. The mine site covers an area of 5,000 hectares. At its largest, the open pit will be 220 meters deep and 1-2 km wide.
The production rate is expected to be 2.7 million tonnes of ore per year, which will work out to approximately 600,000 carats of diamonds per year. The life of the mine is expected to be 12 years. Production began in January of 2008 and as of June 2010, the stones are now available for sale.
The mine is located in a very secluded area where the only source of year round travel is via air travel. There is seasonal over land access during the winter months. If you were to arrive at the site you would see many different buildings such as storage warehouses, an air landing strip, fuel storage, processing plant, offices, workshop areas, dewatering machines for the pit and dorms for the permanent staff to live.
10% of the overall production of the mine is sent to a cutting facility in Sudbury, Ontario where the stones are cut and polished. All of these beautiful, sparkling diamonds are individually certified by the Ontario government.
Come to Poag Jewellers today for opportunity to own a beautiful Ontario Diamond, a local luxury!
Interesting Statistics
1 billion dollars was spent on construction of the mine
$6.7 billion gross domestic product impact on the Ontario economy
500 Attawapiskat first nations people were employed full time and part time during the operation phase
De Beers Canada victor mine has signed four impact benefit agreements (IBA) and one working agreement with the local first nations people
October 2009 the mine was voted “Mine of the Year” by international trade production mining magazine
