The Diavik Diamond Mine is a world-class operation located in an extreme environment 220 km south of the Arctic Circle in Canada's Northwest Territories. The mine has a number of distinctive characteristics - such as limited winter access via an ice road, mine infrastructure being located on an island, with mining taking place behind dykes holding back a lake, temperatures at the mine that get down to -45C in winter, and the presence of bears, wolves, foxes and wolverines! One thing that Diavik does have in common with other mines around the world is the need for reconciliation._x000D_
In late 2005 Diavik implemented Snowden's Reconcilor software system to facilitate the process of reconciling geological models, mine plans, production data and plant results. This paper provides a case study of the reconciliation system implementation. It outlines the migration of Diavik away from a comprehensive and effective spreadsheet-based reconciliation process to a commercial grade, automated and web-based information management system. This paper documents the reasons for moving away from the spreadsheet system, the key parameters used for reconciliation, and the benefits gained by closing the loop between reconciliation and ongoing process improvement._x000D_
FORMAL CITATION:Morley, C and Thompson, K, 2006. Extreme reconciliation - a case study from Diavik Diamond Mine, Canada, in Proceedings Sixth International Mining Geology Conference, pp 313-322 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).