Title: ECONOMY-CANADA: Indigenous Gain From Opening of Diamond Mine By Mark Bourrie EDMONTON, Oct 25 - The opening this month of North America's first commercial diamond mine in Canada's frozen north has raised hopes of a better life for native communities in the region. Latest government surveys revealed the harsh fact that the natives of the sub-Arctic had one of the highest rates of suicide, drug abuse, and infant mortality in the developed world. While Canada ranks high on the United Nations quality of life scale - which factors health care, education, and economic development - aboriginal Canadians would place about 50th if they were citizens of their own countries. With the opening of the Ekati diamond mine, however, at least some indigenous Canadians can share the wealth. They have picked up well-paying jobs with Dican International Canada Ltd - a joint venture between three northern aboriginal groups and WWW International Diamond Consultants. The indigenous workers will sort the stones into gem quality specimens, which sell for about 250 dollars a carat, and industrial diamonds, which fetch about 10 dollars a carat. Some 150 of the 750 workers at the new mine are northern Natives who enjoy modern amenities such as cellular phone links to the outside world, a sports complex and other recreational facilities built at the mine complex. Workers are flown in on a two-week-on, two-week-off schedule, to allow native workers to hunt and fish part-time in their traditional territories. James Ectoolook, a vice-president of the Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, an aboriginal business group representing the Inuit people of the arctic, says his people welcome mining operations in sub-arctic and arctic areas . Developers, however, must respect local culture and the environment, he said. ''I'm sure the Inuit will make quality decisions. I'm looking forward to seeing the development growth.'' The region where the mine has opened is near a migration route of caribou, which is the main source of traditional food for natives living in the sub-arctic. Most of the environmental issues surrounding the development of the mine centred on protecting those animals, which travel in huge herds between their summer and winter pastures. Last year the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), originally unhappy with the environmental assessment process, finally withdrew a court application that sought a judicial review of the mine plan. It dropped court challenge after receiving assurances from the operators that sensitive sub-arctic areas would be protected. The Ekati mine took seven years to come into operation after the first discovery of diamonds at Point Lake in Canada's Northwest Territories, just south of the Arctic Circle. Dia Met, the small Canadian exploration company that found the diamond deposits, is a partner with Australia's Broken Hill Propriety Ltd. in the mine's operation. The Ekati mine is expected to become one of the world's 15 largest diamond producers, mining 3.5 million carats of high- quality diamonds a year. A second mine is expected to open nearby within the next two years. Canadian diamond deposits have a greater percentage of gem- quality stones than in Russia or southern Africa. So far Ekati stones have not been marketed through the Central Selling Organisatioon (CSO) - a cartel headed by South Africa's giant de Beers organisation. But diamond prices, currently at a 10-year low, may force the mine's developers to change their mind. The mine sits on treeless, rocky tundra in an area dotted with small, pristine lakes. The kimberlite pipe that contains the diamonds lies under one of these lakes which has been divided in two with an ice-cored earthen dam and its waters drained into another lake nearby. The open-pit mine will produce about one kilogram of diamonds a week, about enough to fill a half-kilogram coffee can. Indian involvement in the diamond evaluating business came after a fight that highlights the regional and racial tensions in Canada. Politicians in the predominantly French-speaking province of Quebec had pressured the federal government to have the lucrative processing business in their province. The aboriginal groups won out, however, since the diamond deposit, as well as 42 other promising new sites, are on their traditional lands. Native support for mining in the Canada's north has taken a risen remarkably in recent years. Representatives of 5,700 Inuit now support a new nickel mine in the Western arctic that has been proposed by mining giant Falconbridge Ltd. The Inuit have gone so far as to ask the Canadian government to reduce the size of a national park to accommodate the proposed mine. "This issue really is trying to balance the economic interests of people and respecting the caribou," said Nellie Cournoyea, a former government leader of the Northwest Territories who heads an Inuit development corporation. "Changing this (park) boundary will not in any way take away from the integrity of the caribou herd." (END/IPS/mb/mk/90) Origin: ROMAWAS/ECONOMY-CANADA/ ---- [c] 1998, InterPress Third World News Agency (IPS) All rights reserved May not be reproduced, reprinted or posted to any system or service outside of the APC networks, without specific permission from IPS. This limitation includes distribution via Usenet News, bulletin board systems, mailing lists, print media and broadcast. For information about cross- posting, send a message to . For information about print or broadcast reproduction please contact the IPS coordinator at . Conf?