Snap Lake Diamond Mine Snap Lake Diamond Mine Snap Lake Mine is a remote fly-in/fly-out operation located about northeast of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, and, according to De Beers, was the first De Beers mine outside of Africa. It was also Canada's first completely underground diamond mine. Construction began with the opening of an access winter road in 2005. By the end of 2013, De Beers had spent US$1.8 billion on construction and mine operation. Of that total, De Beers spent US$1.3 billion with Northwest Territories-based contractors and suppliers, including US$723 million with Aboriginal businesses or joint ventures. The mine began commercial production on January
Permafrost down to . Discontinuous permafrost is often further divided into "extensive discontinuous permafrost", where permafrost covers between 50 and 90 percent of the landscape and is usually found in areas with mean annual temperatures between , and "sporadic permafrost", where permafrost cover is less than 50 percent of the landscape and typically occurs at mean annual temperatures between . In soil science, the sporadic permafrost zone is abbreviated SPZ and the extensive discontinuous permafrost zone DPZ. Exceptions occur in "un-glaciated" Siberia and Alaska where the present depth of permafrost is a relic of climatic conditions during glacial ages where winters