Diavik Diamond Mine Diavik Diamond Mine The Diavik Diamond Mine is a diamond mine in the North Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada, about northeast of Yellowknife. Diavik Diamond Mine is an industrial complex set in a remote, sub-Arctic landscape. It consists of four kimberlite pipes associated with the Lac de Gras kimberlite field and is located on an island in Lac de Gras and is informally called East Island. It is about south of the Arctic Circle. In the 2015 satellite image below, one can see the two main open pits, waste rock pile, and an airstrip capable of landing aircraft
Permafrost evident from temperature measurements in boreholes in North America and Europe. Typically, the below-ground temperature varies less from season to season than the air temperature, with mean annual temperatures tending to increase with depth as a result of the geothermal crustal gradient. Thus, if the mean annual air temperature is only slightly below , permafrost will form only in spots that are sheltered—usually with a northerly aspect—creating "discontinuous permafrost". Usually, permafrost will remain discontinuous in a climate where the mean annual soil surface temperature is between . In the moist-wintered areas mentioned before, there may not be even discontinuous permafrost