De Beers announced that it has put its Snap Lake diamond mine up for sale, following its placement on care and maintenance in December, according to a report on Reuters quoted by IDEX Online.
In June, the company received permission to flood the underground tunnels at the mine in an attempt to reduce maintenance costs. De Beers has not begun the flooding process, and said that it would be prudent to see if other companies would be prepared to make an offer.
It spent $1.67 billion on the Snap Lake mine construction and operation up to year-end 2014 and would like to find a buyer, but has not ruled out the possibility of going ahead with flooding the mine during the fourth quarter.
