Солтүстік-Батыс территорияларындағы "Экати" алма кеніші

Mine near Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada

The Ekati Diamond Mine, often simply called Ekati, is Canada's first surface and underground diamond mine and is owned by Burgundy Diamond Mines. It is located north east of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, and about south of the Arctic Circle, near Lac de Gras. Until 2014, Ekati was a joint venture between Dominion Diamond Mines (80%), Chuck Fipke, and Stewart Blusson, the two geologists who discovered kimberlite pipes north of Lac de Gras. Fipke and Blusson each held 10% stake in the mine, until Fipke sold his share to Dominion.

The first volcanic pipe found in the Lac de Gras region was the Point Lake kimberlite, discovered by Chuck Fipke and Stewart Blusson who had been prospecting in the region for almost ten years, having found kimberlite indicator minerals as early as 1985. There are 156 known kimberlite pipes within the Ekati block of claims, including the Point Lake pipe. Ekati officially began operations on October 14, 1998, and was operated by BHP. Since the opening until 2017, the mine produced around of diamonds and is still in production. In 2023 Ekati Diamond Mine celebrated its 25th anniversary. As of July 2023, the mine has been owned by Burgundy Diamond Mines. There are numerous options to extend the mine life at Ekati through 2028 including continuation of Misery underground at depth, evaluation alternatives for expansion at Point Lake, transforming Sable to an underground operation following open pit completion, exploring Fox as an underground opportunity and maximizing resources in the Fox stockpile. In addition, the underwater remote mining provides additional opportunities to extract diamonds through kimberlite pipes with a trial that will start at Lynx pit in 2025.

Mine workers fly in fly out through Ekati Airport.