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diavik diamond mine

Harry Winston Diamond Corporation's principal asset is its 40% interest in the Diavik Diamond Mine, located in Canada's Northwest Territories. Diavik is Canada's second diamond mine, and began producing diamonds in January 2003.

The Diavik Mine is a joint venture between Harry Winston Diamond Corporation and Diavik Diamond Mines Inc. ("DDMI"), a wholly owned subsidiary of London-based Rio Tinto plc. Under Harry Winston Diamond Corporation's joint venture agreement with DDMI, Harry Winston Diamond Corporation pays 40% of the operating and capital costs and has the right to receive and market 40% of the diamond production.  Harry Winston Diamond Corporation does not operate the mine.

The Diavik Mine is based on four diamond-bearing kimberlite pipes located within Lac de Gras. A key milestone in the project was the successful completion of a dike encircling the A-154 South and A-154 North orebodies, and its de-watering during August and September 2002. Harry Winston Diamond Corporation received its initial delivery of rough diamonds in January 2003 and held its first sale of rough diamonds in March of that year. The 42,619 carats of diamonds from A-154 South were sold for a total of US $4,100,692, an average price of US $96.22 per carat for the run-of-mine parcel.

A-154 South is a world-class orebody, with a reserve tonnage, as of December 31,2005, of 9.3 million tonnes and a grade of 4.6 carats per tonne. At over $400 per tonne of rock, A-154 South is one of the richest diamond orebodies in the world.

Ore from the A-154 South pipe will dominate the early years of production, while a variable mix of reserves from A-154 South, A-154 North and A-418 will carry production through 2017 with additional resources available from the A-21 kimberite pipe.

For more information about the Diavik Mine, including sustainable development, environmental agreement, and socio-economic monitoring reports, please visit Diavik’s website at: www.diavik.ca