The Gahcho Kue Diamond Mine Project, located in the tundra’s of the Northwest Territories, may become Canada’s newsted diamond mine.  Joint Venture Owners, De Beers Canada Inc. and Mountain Province Diamonds are looking into a feasibility study that was conducted last year and are returning with the go ahead for budget and development planning.

Once the plan is completed and submitted, it will be reviewed by the partners for the final approval before the green light to start operations on the mine.

The current outlook is that all permitting processes will be completed by the end of 2012, at which time the JV partners will look over an updated feasibility study to give the final approval.  The agreement between De Beers and Mountain Province is that if the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) equals or exceeds 15%, then the partners will be locked into the development of the mine.

The current feasibility study outcome projects the Gahcho Kue mine’s IRR at 33%.  It is estimated that the mine will produce 4.5 million carats of commercial grade diamonds over the course of 11 years.

The Gahcho Kue mining operations has an estimated cost of $600 million dollars to build, with tentative plans to start the building in 2014.