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Canada’s Oldest Diamond Mine Faces Uncertain Future
The owner of the Ekati mine, which opened in 1998, has filed for insolvency protection amid the significant decline in diamond prices.
A mix of white and yellow rough diamonds from the Ekati Diamond Mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories. The owner of the mine, Burgundy Diamond Mines Ltd., has filed for insolvency protection as it attempts to restructure and cut costs to keep the financially struggling mine open. (Photo courtesy of Burgundy Diamond Mines Ltd.)
Calgary, Canada—The owner of the Ekati Diamond Mine in Canada has filed for insolvency protection, citing the steep drop in diamond prices and the regulatory requirements and costs associated with operating in the Northwest Territories.
Burgundy Diamond Mines Ltd. announced via a news release on Friday that its subsidiary, Arctic Canadian Diamond Company Ltd., filed for and was granted insolvency protection under Canada’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), which allows companies with more than $5 million in debt to restructure under court supervision.
The protection extends to Burgundy via a non-applicant, stay party order.
Burgundy said it intends use the CCAA process to restructure Arctic Canadian financially and operationally as it continues to navigate “difficult geopolitical, economic and industry conditions.”
In the meantime, Arctic Canadian will continue to be responsible for handling day-to-day operations at Ekati, which will not be disrupted by the CCAA process, it said.
In an affidavit filed on April 30, Brent Mierau, corporate secretary and head of finance for Burgundy and Arctic Canadian, elaborated on the issues impacting Ekati.
He wrote that diamond prices have been on the decline and the market has been under pressure since 2023 due to competition from lab-grown diamonds and lower diamond jewelry demand in China, with U.S. tariffs exacerbating the situation.
The average price per carat for a diamond from Ekati was $92 per carat at the end of 2024, according to the affidavit.
Since U.S. President Donald Trump began imposing tariffs in early 2025, the average price per carat has dropped to $24 per carat as of December 2025, with Ekati diamonds achieving an average price of $27 per carat in its last two sales.
“United States tariffs on jewelry imports have caused lower demand and lower diamond prices,” Mierau wrote.
“A particularly significant impact relates to the current tariffs imposed on India. While I understand that a reduction in the United States tariffs imposed on India has occurred in 2026, the tariffs have continued to result in a reduced American demand and a buildup of inventory with wholesalers … In summary, the tariffs imposed by the United States and other global forces have had a sudden and blunting impact on the diamond market, with direct negative implications for upstream producers such as [Arctic Canadian] and the Burgundy Group.”
Mierau’s affidavit and the Burgundy release both also mentioned the ongoing conflict in the Middle East—which they said has further depressed diamond prices and driven up fuel costs—as contributing to Ekati’s troubles.
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Burgundy Diamond Mines Ltd. announced via a news release on Friday that its subsidiary, Arctic Canadian Diamond Company Ltd., filed for and was granted insolvency protection under Canada’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), which allows companies with more than $5 million in debt to restructure under court supervision.
The protection extends to Burgundy via a non-applicant, stay party order.
Burgundy said it intends use the CCAA process to restructure Arctic Canadian financially and operationally as it continues to navigate “difficult geopolitical, economic and industry conditions.”
In the meantime, Arctic Canadian will continue to be responsible for handling day-to-day operations at Ekati, which will not be disrupted by the CCAA process, it said.
In an affidavit filed on April 30, Brent Mierau, corporate secretary and head of finance for Burgundy and Arctic Canadian, elaborated on the issues impacting Ekati.
He wrote that diamond prices have been on the decline and the market has been under pressure since 2023 due to competition from lab-grown diamonds and lower diamond jewelry demand in China, with U.S. tariffs exacerbating the situation.
The average price per carat for a diamond from Ekati was $92 per carat at the end of 2024, according to the affidavit.
Since U.S. President Donald Trump began imposing tariffs in early 2025, the average price per carat has dropped to $24 per carat as of December 2025, with Ekati diamonds achieving an average price of $27 per carat in its last two sales.
“United States tariffs on jewelry imports have caused lower demand and lower diamond prices,” Mierau wrote.
“A particularly significant impact relates to the current tariffs imposed on India. While I understand that a reduction in the United States tariffs imposed on India has occurred in 2026, the tariffs have continued to result in a reduced American demand and a buildup of inventory with wholesalers … In summary, the tariffs imposed by the United States and other global forces have had a sudden and blunting impact on the diamond market, with direct negative implications for upstream producers such as [Arctic Canadian] and the Burgundy Group.”
Mierau’s affidavit and the Burgundy release both also mentioned the ongoing conflict in the Middle East—which they said has further depressed diamond prices and driven up fuel costs—as contributing to Ekati’s troubles.
Burgundy Diamond is the fourth company to own and operate Ekati, and the second to file for insolvency protection while operating the remote mine.
Ekati opened in 1998 and was Canada's first diamond mine, owned by BHP Billiton (80 percent) and geologists Chuck Fipke and Stewart Blusson (20 percent).
BHP later decided to get out of the diamond business and offloaded its stake in Ekati in April 2013, selling the mine to Dominion Diamond Corp. for more than $500 million.
Dominion was acquired by The Washington Companies, a group of privately held North American mining and transportation businesses, for about $1.2 billion in 2017.
In April 2020, the early days of the pandemic, Dominion was granted insolvency protection.
An initial deal to sell the mine fell through later that year, but Dominion found another buyer for Ekati, selling the diamond mine to a trio of wealth management firms that formed a new entity, Arctic Canadian Diamond Co. Ltd., in early 2021.
In 2023, the mine changed hands again, with current owner Burgundy Diamond buying Arctic Canadian Diamond Co. and Arctic Canadian Marketing N.V., the mine’s Antwerp, Belgium-based sales office, in a deal valued at $136 million.
Burgundy said in the release on Friday that it “continues to believe in the long-term viability” of the Ekati Diamond Mine, though Mierau wrote in his affidavit that Ekati, as well as the other diamond mines in the Northwest Territories, will need additional help from the government to stay afloat.
“[Arctic Canadian] and similarly situated industry participants in the Northwest Territories have incurred hundreds of millions in losses over the past couple of years. This has translated into significant losses for the communities serving these operations,” Mierau stated.
“[Arctic Canadian] and other northern diamond mine operators have advised the Government of the Northwest Territories that absent concerted action, the survival of an industry that is responsible for a collective workforce of approximately 3,200 (with over 1,000 northern workers) and a joint expenditure of approximately CA$1.3 billion per year will be placed in jeopardy.”
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