What does the future hold for the Canadian Diamond Market?

According to the most recent data from Natural Resources Canada (NRCAN), Canada was the world’s third largest producer of rough diamonds by value (12.5% of world production), and the third largest producer by volume (13.5% of world production) in 2019 – producing 18.6 million carats of rough diamonds valued at $2.21 billion.

Ekati, Diavik, Gahcho Kué (all NWT) and Renard (QC) are Canada’s last four producing diamond mines with no exploration projects even close to production.

• Arctic Canadian Diamond Company, the owners of Ekati and the CanadaMark™ hallmark program, yielded 4.5 million carats in 2021 and expected  to ramp up to 5 million carats in 2022 with a planned mine life running to 2028.
• Rio Tinto plans to produce 3 to 3.8 million carats of rough from Diavik in 2023. Well below last year’s total, this reflects the deposit’s end of life in 2025.
• De Beers Group and Mountain Province’s Gahcho Kué mine averages around 4.5 million carats annually and has an anticipated 12 year mine life,  ending in 2028
• Stornoway’s Renard mine expects to produce 1.6 million carats per year over its 14 year mine life, anticipated to end in 2031

That’s an annual production of around 15 million carats, and as end of life approaches, that number will drop considerably.

It’s been a long run since Ekati’s first production reached the market in 1998.
Conceivably, by 2031 there will be no Canadian diamond mines left.
That’s less than ten years. Think about the following questions:

• How do you feel about the loss of the jewel in Canada’s crown?
• What will happen to all of the people that work in the Canadian diamond industry both directly and indirectly?
• Do consumers really care if their diamond is Canadian or from an unknown origin?
• How will it affect retail and wholesale businesses?
• How will it affect brands that have built their livelihood on Canadian diamonds?
• What about lab grown diamonds?
• How will you pivot?

I’d love to engage in conversation with you and hear your thoughts.

Angela Betteridge

Chair of the Board of Directors, CJA