Victor Mine is located in the James Bay Lowlands of northern Ontario, approximately 90 km west of the coastal community of Attawapiskat First Nation. It is Ontario’s first diamond mine and the second in Canada for De Beers.

The Victor Mine was an open-pit mine and is one of 18 kimberlite pipes discovered on the property, 16 of which are diamondiferous.

Construction of the Victor Mine began in February 2006 after receiving all necessary approvals from provincial and federal governments.

Approximately $1 billion was spent on construction of the mine, with approximately C$167 million spent with Aboriginal businesses or joint venture partners.

It is also estimated that De Beers will contribute C$6.7 billion cumulative GDP impact for all of Ontario during the life of the Victor Mine.

The Victor Mine reached commercial production in 2008 (six months ahead of schedule) and the Official Mine Opening took place in July 2008. The mine completed mining operations in March 2019 and processing of ore ended in June 2019. The mine is now in the formal closure phase.

In October 2009, the Victor Mine was voted “Mine of the Year” by the readers of the international trade publication Mining Magazine.

Construction of the mine was essentially complete by the end of 2007 and the first kimberlite was processed in December of that year to begin commissioning of the processing plant. The mine ceased operations in the first quarter of 2019 and decommissioning has started in accordance with the field Closure Plan. As of the end of 2019, the warehouse, workshop, offices and explosives storage facility had been demolished. The remaining components present at the VDM were in various stages of decommissioning and reclamation at the end of 2019 and included the following:

• Open pit (began filling with water);

• Muskeg, mine rock and overburden stockpiles for the disposal of mine pit materials (completed; reclamation process started);

• Well field, mine dewatering system, including the pipeline discharge arrangement to the Attawapiskat River and associated water discharge facilities;

• Open Pit Phase 1 Mine Water Settling Pond, and associated Northeast Fen (NEF) water treatment system;

• Mill building, crusher building, ancillary buildings, and electrical substation;

• Fine Processed Kimberlite Containment (PKC) facility (Cell 1 and Cell 2) and water treatment facility (formerly the Central Quarry [CQ]), including the completion of all Cell 1 dam raises (3) for the fine PKC facility storage and water treatment operations, and construction of the final raise of the Cell 2 fine PKC facility containment dikes;

• Coarse PK and low grade ore stockpiles (processing ceased and stockpile have reached the final size);

• Site road network, permanent airstrip, and freight yard;

• Permanent 224-person operations camp and recreational complex (with some construction-phase dormitories retained for contractors and visitors). The recreation complex requires a significant reinvestment.

• Potable water and sewage treatment facilities, including a potable water supply well;

• Fuel tank farm;

• Standby emergency power generators;

• On site power distribution systems;

• Waste management systems – incinerator, bioremediation area and non-hazardous waste landfill;

• Aggregate pits (a sand pit located approximately 16 km west of the mine site), and the South Quarry (SQ) limestone quarry south of the mine open pit – developed previously but neither in operation as of the end of 2019 but retained for contingency purposes;

• A regional network of groundwater monitoring wells and river flow monitoring stations;

• Attawapiskat River water intake and discharge facilities and associated water lines, to supply water for pit flooding, potable water, and water for creek and river flow supplementation;

• South Granny Creek diversion;

• Nayshkootayaow River flow supplementation water supply system; and

• Granny Creek flow supplementation system.

• Mine site activities carried out in 2019 consisted of:

• Demolition of various site infrastructure (the warehouse, workshop, offices and explosives storage facility)

• Continued development of the open pit and associated ore extraction until operations ceased in April of 2019;

• Open pit dewatering until operations ceased in April of 2019;

• Kimberlite ore processing and the discharge / disposal of processing wastes (fine and coarse PK) until operations ceased in April of 2020;

• Use of Cell 2 of the fine PKC facility;

• Ongoing stockpiling of open pit wastes (limestone waste rock) until operations ceased in April of 2019;

• Transport operations (air, winter road and on-site all-season roads);

• General site activities related to camp operations including potable water supply and domestic sewage treatment;

• Water line systems operations associated with open pit dewatering, ore processing, potable water supply, and creek and river flow supplementation;

• Ongoing waste management;

• Progressive reclamation of various facilities; and

• Environmental monitoring.

By the end of 2019, the open pit had a maximum depth of approximately 160 m below ground surface in the eastern kimberlite pipe, and the western kimberlite open pipe / pit segment was developed to a maximum depth of approximately 240 m. The footprint of the open pit remained at approximately 86 ha. The average total groundwater dewatering rate in 2019 prior to the start of pumping shut down on February 18, 2019 was 65,600 m3 /d. The average combined pumping rate from February 27 to March 21, 2019 was 46,900 m3 /day and from March 27, 2019 to just prior to the start of the shutdown of the last wells on April 9 was 38,200 m3 /day. Major construction activities undertaken in 2019 were related to the start of demolition.