140 million pounds of nickel
5 high quality exploration projects + Lockerby Mine, Sudbury On
Message: De Beers
Diamonds are our new best friends (comment on this story)
De Beers diamond facility to create 50 jobs in Greater Sudbury
Posted By Carol Mulligan, The Sudbury Star
Posted 2 hours ago
Ontario's first diamond-cutting and polishing facility will create about 50 new jobs in Sudbury when it opens in the city later this year.
The facility will be created by Crossworks Manufacturing, part of the HRA-SunDiamond Group, who qualified with the provincial government for a supply contract with De Beers' Diamond Trading Company to cut and polish about $25 million of rough, high-quality diamonds a year.
The facility will employ people skilled in diamond cutting, as well as administrative and maintenance staff.
The rough stones will come from the De Beers Canada Victor Mine, about 90 kilometres west of Attawapiskat First Nation, in the James Bay Lowlands.
De Beers Canada signed an agreement with the Ontario government last year to make 10 per cent of its annual rough diamond production from the Victor mine available for cutting and polishing in Ontario. This is being done through the De Beers global sales and distribution arm, the DTC.
Tom Ormsby, manager of public and corporate affairs for De Beers, said his company's specialty is "harvesting" diamonds and it leaves it to other specialists to cut and polish them.
De Beers has a policy of "local beneficiation," said Ormsby, in which areas in which diamonds are harvested share in the wealth created by the industry.
"That's really important to us," he said in a telephone interview.
Ormsby said the diamonds being mined by De Beers at Victor Mine are the best quality diamonds in the world. De Beers mines about 600,000 carats of diamonds valued at $400 a carat at Victor, whereas many other diamonds are only worth $130.
Greater Sudbury Mayor John Rodriguez said the new facility could open the door to other gemstone companies and related activities setting up shop in the Nickel Capital.
"I see a number of jewelry manufacturers clustering with this," he told reporters Monday.
Continued After Advertisement Below
Advertisement
Ontario recently joined other stakeholders in establishing Canada's first diamond bourse in Toronto. A bourse is a wholesale polished diamond exchange where trade merchants meet to transact business. Diamond bourses are generally held in major diamond- cutting centres.
Canada ranks in the top three diamond producers in the world in terms of value.
Jim Gowans, president and chief executive officer of De Beers Canada, said his company is committed to sustainable development and creating business, training and employment opportunities in the areas in which it operates mines.
"We are proud to be the first diamond mine in Ontario and will continue to seek ways to grow with our partners," he said.
Uri Ariel, president of Crossworks Manufacturing Ltd., said the new facility will put Greater Sudbury on the global diamond map.
De Beers Canada employs about 25 people at a treatment facility it operates on Maley Drive, where a state-of-the-art, mechanized form of diamond panning is done.
- - -
Diamonds
Ontario recently joined other stakeholders in establishing Canada's first diamond bourse in Toronto.
Canada ranks in the top three diamond producers in the world in terms of value.
New Message
Please
login
to post a reply