Dominion Diamond Corporation has announced the restart of the Ekati process plant and the sale of an exceptional diamond recovered at the Ekati mine earlier this year, IDEX Online reports. The Ekati process plant resumed operations at full capacity on September 21. Plant operations had been suspended since a fire that occurred at the Ekati process plant on June 23.
In addition, Dominion has announced the sale of a 186-carat gem-quality diamond – the largest ever recovered at Ekati – for $2.8 million at the company’s most recent sale in September. The company recovered the stone in early June during the processing of feed from the Pigeon kimberlite.
Earlier this month, Dominion reported a loss of $37.9 million for the 2nd quarter of 2017 (May through July 2016). Total sales dropped nearly 24% year-on-year to $160 million from $209.7 million. Revenue for the first half fell 15% compared to the first half of 2015. Dominion’s poor performance came at the heel of a fire on June 23rd that disrupted work at the Ekati mine from June to September. Following the fire, Dominion lowered its 2017 production forecast by 16%, from 5.6 million carats to 4.7 million carats.
