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RAPAPORT... Dominion Diamond Corporation posted surety bonds with the Northwest Territories in the aggregate amount of $221 million (CAD 253,473,000) to secure its obligation under a water license to reclaim the Ekati mine site. As a result, Dominion Diamond has been returned letters of credit in the amount of approximately $72 million (CAD 82.6 million) leveraged as security. Letters of credit in the amount of $37 million (CAD 42.7 million) remain with the government as security for reclamation and related activities at the Ekati diamond mine, pending completion of additional governmental reviews under the mine's environmental agreement. The surety bonds were issued by a consortium of insurance companies led by Zurich Insurance Company Ltd., including ACE INA Insurance and AVIVA Insurance Company of Canada. In addition, Dominion Diamond filed the developer's assessment report with the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board for its Jay kimberlite pipe at the Ekati mine. The Jay project holds the potential to extend the life of Ekati by nearly 10 years to approximately 2030. The assessment report is the next step in the permitting process to develop, what Dominion Diamond determined to be, the largest diamondiferous resource in North America. Next, the analytical and hearing phases of the environmental assessment process will take place, leading to a ministerial decision on the Jay project in late 2015, according to the company; and once a decision is issued, the water license and land-use permitting process will take approximately another six months. The company proposes building a water retention dike on the Jay property that follows a horse-shoe shaped alignment -- from the shoreline out into Lac du Savage -- in order to isolate the portion of the lake overlying the main pipe. The dike will be five kilometers long with an average water depth of five meters. Dike construction would begin in the summer of 2016 and continue through to 2019. De-watering and pre-stripping would then be underway followed by conventional open pit mining, with Jay production currently expected to begin in 2020. The Jay kimberlite pipe is located in the southeastern portion of the Ekati mine, approximately 25 kilometers southeast of the main facilities and approximately seven kilometers to the northeast of the Misery pit in the Lac de Gras watershed. The Jay project is part of Dominion Diamond's buffer zone joint venture, in which it holds a 65.3 percent stake.
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