by Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Feb 04/98) - Federal officials involved in the territorial diamond task force arrived in Yellowknife yesterday to a less than enthusiastic reception from Northerners trying to establish secondary diamond industries in the area.

So far, the federal-territorial task force on value-added diamond industries has made no move to meet with territorial groups pushing for the establishment of a secondary diamond industry in the North.

The NWT Chamber of Commerce was granted time to make a presentation to the task force Thursday, but only after it sent a letter criticizing the task force for not inviting input from proponents of a Northern diamond industry.

The federal portion of the task force is led by Hiram Beaubier, subordinate of co-chair Jim Moore, assistant deputy minister of Northern programs for DIAND.

David Nutter, a representative of the mineral resources division for the department, could not say why Moore is not attending the task force's first meeting in Yellowknife. It has met "once or twice" in Ottawa since being established in November.

The federal delegation also includes representatives of the federal departments of Finance, Natural Resources and Industry, as well as DIAND minerals director Joe Lazarovitch.

Nutter said he knew the City of Yellowknife's task force on secondary diamond industries had requested time with the NWT-Federal task force, but did not know if the request had been agreed to.