Unit 6 canada adds sparkle to de beers’ strategy

1. Pronounce the following words and word combinations. Use a dictionary if necessary.

Junior, diamond, exploration, flurry, ramp-up, buoyant, elusive, crucial, emphasis, profile, to grease, to endear, Montreal, Southampton Island, muskeg, aboriginal, aluminium.

2. Give Russian equivalents to the following words and word combinations.

Junior companies, to build a diamond mine, to channel exploration budget to, to sign a flurry of joint ventures, to be on a ramp-up, to be elusive, to make a crucial shift, to mirror recent emphasis on partnerships in diamond marketing and distribution, to shun prospectors, to grease mining industry’s wheels, to endear, to shut out of, to come on stream, price tag, muskeg, offset.

3. Read the text again and answer the following questions.

1. Where is De Beers going to start building its first diamond mine?

2. How much is De Beers investing to Canada?

3. How many people will the company employ in Canada?

4. How is the burst of company’s activity explained?

5. What shift has the company made in its exploration strategy?

6. What was the company’s strategy in Canada for years?

7. What must any foreign investor do in Canadian mining?

8. What happened in the late 1980s?

9. Why is the competition new for De Beers?

10. Why did the company form joint ventures?

11. What have the South Africans learnt in the seven years since Mountain Province Diamonds started working with De Beers?

12. What was Snap Lake’s cost? And what will the final price tag be? Why?

13. Why doesn’t the low output of the Victor mine disturb the company?

14. What is the main drawback of mining in Canada? What are the benefits of mining there?

4. Complete the sentences with the information taken from the text.

1. Fiscal stability, skilled workforce and Canadians’ … … make it “a great country to operate mines”.

2. They didn’t … themselves to the guys in the field.

3. The group is … almost half of this year’s US$92m exploration budget to Canada.

4. De Beers kept a low profile in Canada, operating under a different name and … the prospectors.

5. Any big foreign investor in Canadian mining must … … how to work with the juniors.

6. De Beers has been … out of two rich mines in the Northwest Territories.

7. There are major … to be had from the partnerships with capable junior companies.

8. The burst of activity is partly a response to the … diamond market.

5. Explain the following English words and word combinations in your own words.

Junior companies, to channel budget to, a flurry of joint ventures, to be on a ramp-up, buoyant diamond market, to mirror emphasis on, to be shut out of, to come on stream.

6. Decide which of the following statements are right and which are wrong. Give the correct variants.

1. Diamond group has realised there are some benefits to be had from the partnerships with capable junior companies.

2. The company will employ about 3,000 people in Canada within the next three years.

3. It has signed a flurry of joint ventures and isn’t seeking partners any more.

4. Big new discoveries are likely to be elusive in Canada, where De Beers’ mining operations are centred.

5. It has rights to 153,000 sq km of land, about six times the size of Russia.

6. At full production the mines, one controlled by BHP Billiton and the other by Rio Tinto, will contribute about 15 per cent of world diamond output.

7. Ditem Explorations of Montreal signed a joint venture in August to evaluate De Beers’ land holdings on Southampton Island in the eastern Arctic.

8. De Beers is also close to moving ahead with the Victor mine in the muskeg of southern Africa.