Hundreds of laid-off Ekati diamond mine workers won’t receive their scheduled severance payments this week according to emails seen by Cabin Radio.
Burgundy Diamond Mines has spent the past few months laying off staff and closing some of its operations at the NWT mine.
The company says that’s because of a depressed market for natural diamonds and the effect of United States tariffs on the industry, such as a 50-percent tariff on India, which is where many diamonds are polished and prepared for sale to the US.
Last month, Burgundy reduced its severance payout to a quarter of what laid-off workers were originally told to expect.
On Wednesday, in an email forwarded to Cabin Radio by multiple people who received it, the company said that “due to ongoing cash flow constraints,” the next severance payout – scheduled for Thursday, November 6 – “has been delayed.”
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“We recognize the significance of these payments and are actively working to confirm an updated timeline. We anticipate providing further information later this month,” read the email, which was signed: “Human Resources.”
“This is bullshit, what the company is doing with our money,” one laid-off worker responded in a message to Cabin Radio.
Burgundy’s hopes of survival appear to be pinned on securing a bailout from the federal government in the form of a large enterprise tariff loan, or LETL.
LETLs were announced by Ottawa in March as a response to US tariffs.
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In the words of the Canada Enterprise Emergency Funding Corporation, a federally backed entity managing the program, LETLs offer “financing support for large Canadian enterprises affected by actual and potential new tariffs and countermeasures, and which face challenges accessing traditional sources of market financing.”
Burgundy has applied for an LETL. The minimum size of any loan under the program is $30 million, and the sum can go much higher depending on the circumstances.
The program’s eligibility criteria state that loan size is determined based on “demonstrated need, the reasonableness of management’s business plan assumptions and the ability to repay.”
Talks are at an advanced stage according to internal communications seen by Cabin Radio.
The Canada Enterprise Emergency Funding Corporation did not respond to a request for comment. Burgundy Diamond Mines spokesperson Ariella Calin said by email: “We are eligible and we are still currently in the due diligence process with the regulators.”
In an update this week to the Australian Stock Exchange, where Burgundy is listed, the company suggested it hoped to know what – if anything – it will receive in the form of an LETL by November 20.
The company told the ASX it is “currently actively engaged in relation to securing external funding.”
“Successful completion of an external funding package is critical to the company’s continued financial viability,” the ASX statement continued.
“The discussions are ongoing and it is difficult to predict a timetable for their conclusion. However, the company is working towards finalizing these matters as soon as practicable and is aiming to do so by the commencement of normal trading on November 20, 2025.”
According to quarterly financial statements filed at the end of October, Burgundy’s cash reserves declined from US $7.2 million to $4.2 million over the past three months, while the company is carrying US $86 million in debt.
