Gahcho Kué Mine looks to resume operations following COVID-19 outbreak

Work to resume operations at the Gahcho Kué diamond mine in the Northwest Territories is underway following an outbreak of COVID-19 this month.

In a Friday media release, Mountain Province Diamonds, a part owner of the mine, announced "a ramp-up to resume operations." 

"Plans to mitigate the loss of production are being assessed and will continue to be reviewed over the coming weeks," read a statement from Stuart Brown, the company's president and CEO.

"It is important to keep our focus on maintaining a safe and secure site while balancing the need to make up for lost production as we navigate our way through the pandemic."

The mine suspended production-related activities on Feb. 6 after the outbreak.

The development comes as the N.W.T.'s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Kami Kandola said this week that territorial health officials "remain cautiously optimistic the situation at the mine has stabilized."

Mine looks to ramp-up production over weekend

On Wednesday, Kandola said there were eight active cases at Gahcho Kué. There have been 19 cases in total, with three hospitalizations. Kandola did not elaborate on their condition for privacy reasons.

Friday's release by Mountain Providence Diamonds said an "essential services" crew change on Tuesday brought in two "industrial hygienists to review and oversee work protocols and further deep cleaning."

"The next step is to bring in the production crew later this week and to begin the build up to production over the weekend," according to the release.