Throughout history, society has chosen many ways, including diamonds, to display wealth. Diamonds are rare and ancient and gems from the Northwest Territories are up to three billion years old.
The majority of northern diamonds are gem-quality and destined for jewellery.
The North has three operating diamond mines, Ekati, Diavik, and Gahcho Kué. Two other diamond mines were operational including Snap Lake, on extended care and maintenance, and Jericho. Jericho, Nunavut’s first, and so far, only diamond mine, produced 789,000 carats from 2006 to 2008.
As the hardest known material, diamonds have been used for centuries as an abrasive in cutting, drilling, grinding and polishing. This is the dominant industrial use for diamonds.
Diamonds also have the highest thermal conductivity of any material at room temperature and are used as a sink to dissipate heat in electronic devices such as computers and diode lamps.
The US receives 73% of Canadian polished diamond exports. Source Diamond Producers Association
According to Natural Resources Canada, in 2018, Canada was the third largest diamond producer in the world by value and by volume (carats) accounting for 14% by value and 15% by volume of world production. See below for more information about Canada’s exceptional natural rough diamonds!
The majority of rough diamonds from Canada’s north are destined for jewellery.
What are diamonds used for?
Diamonds are best known as gemstones, even though only 20% of the world’s production by weight is used for jewellery. The other 80%, known as bort, is used in industrial and research applications where the unique properties of diamonds are required. As the hardest known material, diamonds have been used for centuries as an abrasive in cutting, drilling, grinding and polishing. This is the dominant industrial use for diamonds.
Diamonds also have the highest thermal conductivity of any material at room temperature and are used as a sink to dissipate heat in electronic devices such as computers and diode lamps.
Production
Canadian mines produced 23 million carats of diamonds valued at $2.7 billion in 2018, representing a 0.2% decrease in volume and a 1.6% increase in value over 2017.
Trade – exports
Canada’s most important diamond export items by value were unsorted rough diamonds, sorted gem-quality rough diamonds and cut gem-quality diamonds. Exports were shipped mostly to Belgium, Botswana, India, the United States and Israel.
Prices – how much are rough diamonds worth?
There are no internationally set prices for rough gem-quality diamonds, as there are for many metals and other commodities. Mining companies hold ‘sights’ at regular intervals to market their production. The prices reached at these sights are dictated by supply and demand for each of the many categories of diamonds.
