The international mining corporation Rio Tinto revealed that during Q1 2023, diamond production fell by 4% year over year. The company reports a decrease in diamond production to 954,000 carats from the same time previous year. In addition, production dropped by 28% as compared to Q4 2022’s previous quarter.
At the Diavik mine, where the company’s share of carats was 4% lower than in Q1 2022, Rio Tinto blamed the temporary access limitations to the production decline.
Rio Tinto announced a $40 million investment in the first stage of underground mining beneath the current A21 open pit at Diavik in Canada to increase production. The business anticipates that this decision will produce an extra 1.4 million carats of rough diamonds. In addition to ending commercial production at Diavik, underground mining is anticipated to begin in the first quarter of 2026.