Janine Mundt

Abstract. This paper deals with the kimberlites and diamonds of the Ekati Diamond Mine, NWT, Canada, which lies in the central part of the canadian slave craton and is operated by the BHP Billiton Diamond Inc.. 150 kimberlites were discovered at Ekati and five of them are mined for diamonds. The most Ekati kimberlites are pipe-like bodies and their age range from 45 to 75 Ma. Only a few of the 150 kimberlites are economically useful. For that reason, they need to be drilled and sampled by particular methods. The Ekati property exhibits exceptional diamond grades. Diamonds are formed by carbon – and waterrich melts or by low density fluids. Especially, the diamonds of 13 kimberlites at Ekati were studied. Thereby, three developed regional associations were established