Development of the Gahcho Kue diamond project, located 80 km southeast of De Beers' Snap Lake diamond mine in Canada's Northwest Territories, has moved to the next stage, with project partners De Beers and Mountain Province Diamonds preparing a plan and a budget.



Plans call to begin work at the project with open pit mining. A plant with a processing capacity of 3 million tons/year is also slated for construction, as is a diesel power plant; an airstrip; a truck stop; and a complex that will provide office space and accommodations.



Mountain Province discovered the property in the 1990s, and De Beers bought its 51% stake in 1997. Three of the project's kimberlite pipes have been tested for diamond content to date.



In May, Mountain Province announced that an independent valuation of samples from the project had determined the value of diamonds from Gahcho Kue to range from $108/carat to $315/carat. The project's Tuzo kimberlite yielded a 25.13 carat stone that was assessed at over $502,000 – a per-carat value of $20,000.