To all:- This is from Senator Lorna Milne's quarterly report, has a photo of the Ekati Diamond Mine, 300km north of Yellowknife, NWT. Another photo of Sen. Milne in front of a truck at the mine will never make the "best dressed list" but appropriate for her locale at the time. Muriel M. Davidson [email protected] ======================== SENATOR MILNE VISITS EKATI MINE IN NWT Earlier this spring, the Senate passed bill C-14 that enhanced the diamond industry in Canada. It put into law Canada's commitment to help rid the world-wide diamond industry of "blood diamonds". Companies that follow the law will be able to certify that their diamonds do not support civil wars, and this will allow our diamonds to be sold easily, and for a higher price, on the international market. Senator Nick Sibbeston from NWT sponsored the bill in the Senate, and after it was passed invited some Senators to Yellowknife to visit the mine. It was quite a trek, as the mine itself is 300km north of Yellowknife, and it required us to fly from Yellowknife just to get there. The Ekati mine is an excellent example of the way such a business should be run. By agreement with the government of the NWT and the aboriginal peoples of the area, 64% of the mine employees must be "Northerners" and 32% must be aboriginal. They all live together in accommodation provided on-site, very comfortable rooms with both TV and internet access provided. The employees work 12 hour shifts, seven days a week for two weeks, then are flown directly back to their home communities for two weeks off. Since they all get 2 weeks holidays each year, they effectively get six consecutive weeks off each year. On-site training courses are also provided and the recreational facilities on-site are extensive. The mine itself is awe-inspiring. It is still an open-pit operation, although it will go underground as they get deeper into the kimberlite 'pipe' that contains the diamonds. Both the safety precautions and the security precautions taken for their employees are impressive. They excavate and process 10,000 tonnes of ore each day at Ekati, and recover about 10,000 karats of diamonds per day. That amount would fit into a coffee can. The quality of the Canadian diamonds is extremely high. It has been said that experts can recognize Canadian diamond earrings from across the room! Not only is the quality of diamonds exceptionally high, but Canada will soon be producing 15% of the world's diamonds. This has been a tremendous economic boost for the NWT. == --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.483 / Virus Database: 279 - Release Date: 5/19/03