Ontario’s only diamond mine is celebrating its 10th anniversary tomorrow.
This is also the same year the Victor Mine will be closing its doors. De Beers announced in November that the mine near Attawapiskat will be shutting down because it has reached its end of life. The Victor Mine opened in July 2008 and has since produced approximately 7-million carats of diamonds.
The MyCochraneNow.Com newsroom is on its way to the mine tomorrow morning to participate in the anniversary celebrations, as well as gather more information on the closing and reclamation plans.
At an update in May, Head of External and Corporate Affairs Tom Ormsby says as the mine is going through the closing process, it’s focus is on the helping the over 500 current employees who are affected. Ormsby says the mine is still fully operational until February. He says because of this the layoff process will be in stages.
De Beers says reclamation work has already started with over 200,000 tree saplings planted near the mine site. The company says the goals is to make the mine site as close to its original state as possible.
MyCochraneNow.Com will be updating you the current closure plans.