Mining giant BHP Billiton has agreed to sell its diamond operations to Canada’s Harry Winston, in a move to offload a non-core division. The deal is worth US$ 500 million and includes an 80% stake at the Ekati mine and associated diamond sorting and sales facilities at Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories in the country and Antwerp in Belgium.
Ekati was Canada’s first diamond mine and has produced some US$ 750 million of rough diamonds a year over the past five years. Harry Winston is cited as a possible buyer for the diamond division of another mining giant, Rio Tinto, which is considering a possible sale or float of its diamond business.