The main Gahcho Kué kimberlite cluster comprises four kimberlite bodies: Hearne, 5034, Tuzo, and Tesla. Hearne, most of the 5034 Pipe, and the Tuzo and Tesla occur under Kennady Lake, which has an average depth of 8 m. The Tesla kimberlite body is not part of the current declared resources or reserves.

Gahcho Kué kimberlites are overlain by varying thickness of glacial boulder outwash and lake sediments (averaging 10 m thick), and have a combined water and sediment cover as much as 25 m thick.

Drill information suggests that Tuzo and 5034 are located on an inclined feeder dyke system, the GK dyke, which dips roughly 25 degrees NNE. A vertical feeder dyke, as it is common for most maar-diatreme volcanoes, was not identified. Hearne is located on another feeder dyke system which dips to the North. The feeder dyke systems were repeatedly active during emplacement, resulting in a complex facies architecture of the kimberlite bodies rising from the feeder dykes.

The kimberlite bodies are steep-sided comprising of several texturally distinct phases of kimberlite in which the textures vary from hypabyssal kimberlite (HK) to diatreme facies tuffisitic kimberlite (TK). TK displays many diagnostic features including abundant unaltered country rock xenoliths, pelletal lapilli, serpentinized olivine and a matrix composed of microlitic phlogopite and serpentine without carbonate. HK contains common fresh olivine set in a groundmass composed of monticell ........

The Gahcho Kué Mine employs conventional open pit truck/shovel mining methods. Waste and ore are blasted and loaded using a fleet of diesel-powered trucks, shovels, drills and ancillary equipment. Waste rock will be stored in two surface mine rock piles as well as in two of the excavated pits at later stages of the mine life. Kimberlite ore is hauled to a run-of-mine storage pad where the ore is stockpiled and loaded into the primary crusher via a front-end loader. Kimberlite processing creates two additional waste streams of coarse and fine processed kimberlite. Coarse processed kimberlite (CPK) is loaded into haul trucks and stacked in a pile north of the plant, while the fine processed kimberlite (FPK) is deposited via slurry into a settlement pond known as Area 2. Non-acid generating (NAG) and potentiallyacid generating (PAG) waste rock is differentiated using an on-site sampling system of blast hole cuttings. PAG rock is encapsulated within the surface mine rock piles and eventually below the restored final lake elevation of Kennady Lake during period of pit backfill.

The mine design and consequent mine plan considers conventional truck / shovel mining utilizing 29 m3 bucket diesel hydraulic front shovels, a 17 m3 front-end loader and 218 t class haul trucks to mine kimberlite and waste. This large fleet is augmented by 12 m3 bucket front-end loaders, scaling excavators and five 90 t haul trucks. Production drill and blast activities are supported by a fleet ........

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