Arctic Canadian Diamond Company

Arctic Canadian Diamond Company (ACDC) is a Canadian specialist diamond mining company formerly known as Dominion Diamond Mines, Dominion Diamond Corp., Harry Winston and Aber. Since July 2023 it has been controlled by Burgundy Diamond Mines.[3]

Arctic Canadian Diamond Company
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryNonmetallic Mineral Mining
Headquarters
Calgary, Alberta
,
Canada
ProductsDiamonds
RevenueDecrease$720.57 million USD (2016)[1]
Decrease$7.99 million USD (2016)[1]
Number of employees
1625 (including contractors).[2]
Parent
Websitewww.ddmines.com
The logo formerly used by Dominion Diamond Mines.

Aside from its corporate office in Calgary,[4] it also has cleaning and sorting facilities in Yellowknife and Mumbai and a marketing office in Antwerp, Belgium.

History

The company once held a 40% stake in the Diavik Diamond Mine Project. Production at the Diavik Diamond Mine, Canada's second diamond mine, is operated by Dominion Diamond Mines' joint venture partner, Diavik Diamond Mine, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto. The mine began producing diamonds in November 2002.[5]

In 2012, the company purchased all of BHP's diamond assets; the primary asset is the Ekati Diamond Mine, which is adjacent to the Diavik Mine.[6]

Diavik and Ekati combined are estimated to produce over 7 million carats of diamonds in 2014, worth an estimated $1.1 billion. Diavik and Ekati are currently ranked the 9th and 19th largest diamond mines in the world, respectively, according to total carat production.[7]

The company's participation in the retail segment of the diamond pipeline was by means of its ownership of Harry Winston, Inc., a chain of retail stores. On January 14, 2013 the company announced that it has entered into an agreement to sell its luxury brand diamond jewelry and timepiece division, Harry Winston Inc., to the Swatch Group for US$750 million plus their assumption of up to US$250 million of pro forma net debt. The transaction included the brand and all the activities related to jewelry and watches, including the 535 employees worldwide and the production company in Geneva (Switzerland).[8]

In March 2017, Dominion Diamond announced it had received an unsolicited and non-binding expression of interest from The Washington Companies to acquire the company for US$1.1 billion.[9] Four months after announcing that it would accept it, the agreement between the parties was closed in November.[10]

In June 2017, a deal was signed with online diamond retailer James Allen to make it the exclusive online retailer of CanadaMark diamonds.[11][12] In October, 2018 a 552-carat yellow diamond was discovered at the Diavik Diamond Mine in Canada's Northwest Territories.[13]

By June 2020, the company was close to collapse because sales had stalled so severely during the COVID-19 pandemic - debt had increased to US$1.2 billion. Since the company would be unable to pay that debt, it was in the process of restructuring through the courts to avoid bankruptcy.[14]

In February 2021, Dominion Diamond Mines sold the Ekati Mine, and all its assets, excluding its stake in the Diavik Diamond Mine to a new company named Arctic Canadian Diamond Company, which is made up of a consortium capital funds.[15] In July 2023, Burgundy Diamond Mines purchased full control of ACDC.

See also

References
  1. "Dominion Diamond Corp. Income Statement". Google Finance. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  2. "2018 Socio-Economic Agreement Report" (PDF). Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  3. "Burgundy Diamond completes acquisition of Arctic Canadian Diamond Company". Mining Technology. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  4. "Contact Details". Dominion Diamond Corporation. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
  5. "Aber Investor Relations". Retrieved 2005-12-21.
  6. Harry Winston to Purchase Ekati Diamond Mine For $700 Million, Forbes, 2012-11-13
  7. Zimnisky, Paul (March 13, 2014). "The state of global rough diamond supply 2014". Mining.com.
  8. "Swatch Group acquires the jewelry and watch brand Harry Winston Inc. - Swatch Group".
  9. "Dominion Diamond Receives US$1.1 Billion Unsolicited Bid from The Washington Companies", JuniorMiningNetwork.com, 20 March 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  10. Paddon, David (2017-07-17). "Dominion Diamond agrees to $1.2 billion (U.S.) takeover by WashCorps". The Toronto Star. ISSN 0319-0781. Retrieved 2018-01-28.
  11. Bates, Rob. "James Allen, CanadaMark, and the Growing Trend Towards Origin Tracking", JCK, 2 June 2017. Retrieved on 6 June 2017.
  12. "James Allen Links Up with CanadaMark", Rapaport - Diamonds.net, 5 June 2017. Retrieved on 6 June 2017.
  13. Crespo, Gisela (December 17, 2018). "Largest known diamond in North America found in Canada". CNN.
  14. The downfall of Dominion Diamond How the COVID-19 pandemic pushed one of the North's largest employers to the brink of financial collapse
  15. "Arctic Canadian Diamond Company Ltd. Announces New Ownership, Interim President, and Appointment of Advisor on Aboriginal and Northern Affairs". www.businesswire.com. 8 March 2021.
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