The Argyle AK1 Pit has been operating and producing over 25 per cent of the world's diamonds by volume for over 20 years. The mining boom in Western Australia is creating upward cost pressures to Argyle's mining operation while the price received for its product remains flat in comparison to many other Western Australian commodities. This incongruity, which when combined with other circumstances such as the pit being close to the end of its mine life, a decline in head grades and a tightening in operational constraints caused by the pit's maturity, is causing the leadership team at the mine to utilise innovative strategies in order to ensure that the open pit continues to perform economically until its final closure in late 2010. The strategies that will be discussed in this paper are step change business improvement methods, localisation of the workforce, employment of Aboriginal people and the use of a clear and concise consultation process in order to provide certainty to a workforce working in a pit during boom times where pit closure is imminent._x000D_
FORMAL CITATION:Fraser, R, 2007. Argyle diamonds - closing a pit during a mining boom, in Proceedings Sixth Large Open Pit Mining Conference 2007, pp 59-60 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).