McKim & Creed provided hydrographic surveying services to help build dikes at a diamond mine in the Northwest Territories of Canada.
The 8 million carats of diamonds produced annually by the Diavik Diamond Mine are located in underwater ore deposits called kimberlite pipes, requiring surrounding dikes to be built to accommodate open pit mining. The dikes are constructed on a 2-meter thick filter blanket of small rock installed along the lakebed. To accurately set the filter blanket and build the dikes, McKim & Creed was hired to furnish hydrographic surveying services. We installed and configured a differential GPS (DGPS) positioning system on a crane for quick and precise filter blanket tracking and placement; established a hydrographic survey launch to accurately inspect placement; and trained the contractor’s surveyors to operate the installation and inspection systems.