De Beers to aid employees in evacuation amid wildfires in Canada’s Northwest Territories

Gahcho Kué, co-owned by Mountain Province Diamonds and De Beers Canada, is located at Kennady Lake, about 280 km northeast of Yellowknife. (Image courtesy of De Beers Canada.)

Anglo American unit De Beers Group said on Thursday it was assisting some employees at its Gahcho Kué diamond mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories whose families were residing in the Yellowknife region and were asked to evacuate due to wildfires.

Canadian officials ordered the evacuation of the Northwest Territories’ capital of Yellowknife and several smaller communities on Wednesday as a massive wildfire threatened the town of Hay River overnight.

“The Gahcho Kué team is working with the mine’s Yellowknife resident employees to support those who wish to travel to Yellowknife to assist their families in evacuating the city,” De Beers said.

The mine, however, continues to operate, the world’s biggest diamond miner added.

Canada is enduring its worst wildfire season with more than 1,000 active fires burning across the country, including 230 in the Northwest Territories.

(By Arshreet Singh; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)

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