Diavik is closed, and Rio Tinto still pulled 33,000 carats from it
Rio Tinto recovered 33,000 carats from Diavik's remaining ore in the second quarter, months after the Canadian mine closed. Output fell 97% from a year earlier; the company will sell its final diamonds through year-end.
By The Diamonds Desk
What changed
A mine that stopped digging is still producing diamonds. Rio Tinto recovered 33,000 carats from Diavik's remaining ore in the second quarter, months after the flagship Canadian operation closed in March, working through residual and stockpiled material rather than mining anything new.
What it means
- The interesting number is not the 33,000 carats but the zero that follows them. Diavik's close removes a reliable source of large, well-documented Canadian rough for good, and in a trade learning to sell scarcity, the mines that shut this decade will do more for prices than any marketing budget the industry could buy.
Key figures
| carats from remaining ore, Q2 | 33,000 |
|---|---|
| Q2 output, YoY | −97% |
| carats, H1 | 1.1M |
| H1 vs 2025 | −51% |
Source: Diavik winds down
A dark mine still gives
It is a coda, not a comeback, but it is a reminder that a diamond mine does not go dark the day the last truck leaves the pit.
The scale of the wind-down is stark in the numbers. Second-quarter diamond output plunged 97% both from the prior quarter and year on year, and first-half production came to 1.1 million carats, down 51% from the same period in 2025.
Those are the arithmetic of closure: once the ore body is exhausted, volume collapses to whatever the plant can still recover from what remains above ground.
The end of a mine · Rio Tinto diamond output
Source: Diavik winds down
The exit is complete
Diavik was Rio Tinto's last diamond asset, and its closure completes a deliberate exit from the business. The major shut the famous pink-producing Argyle mine in Western Australia in 2020 and walked away from the Fort a la Corne project in Canada in 2023, choosing to concentrate on metals and minerals.
Rio has said it will continue to manufacture and sell its final diamond production at least through the end of 2026.
| Figure | |
|---|---|
| H1 2025 | ~2.2M ct (base) |
| H1 2026 | 1.1M ct −51% |
Rio Tinto diamond production, first half (company). Bars indexed to H1 2025. A last half from a closed mine. Carat Capital graphics desk.
Scarcity gets the last word
The timing gives those last carats an odd tailwind. Certified Canadian goods carry a provenance premium, and they enter a market where a 50% US tariff now sits on Canadian goods and the natural-diamond scarcity argument is building on the back of mine closures worldwide.
The final run from a marquee Canadian mine reaches buyers who are short of exactly that story, even as the tariff complicates the route to the largest market for it.
The story so far
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Method
Rio Tinto diamond production, first half (company). Bars indexed to H1 2025.