Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Feb 04/00) - The final details of an environmental agreement may be ironed out at a meeting between Diavik, government and aboriginal leaders today.

Indian and Northern Affairs deputy minister Jim Moore said Thursday that Diavik Diamond Mines Inc. had responded to a draft environmental agreement presented to the company at the beginning of this week.

"The company has reacted to the draft environmental agreement and said, 'We have some concerns,'" said Moore.

Diavik's concerns include a condition sought by territorial and federal governments that the company post a security deposit. Moore would neither confirm nor deny whether operational funding for the monitoring board to be established by the agreement is an issue. The parties involved in the talks -- the federal and territorial government and five aboriginal groups that would be affected by the diamond mine -- have agreed not to discuss details of the negotiations publicly.

Today's meeting would provide Diavik with an opportunity to articulate its concerns, said Moore, and give the other parties a chance to respond. He called reports that an agreement may be worked out today "pure speculation."

The parties are scheduled to meet at DIAND's Bellanca Building headquarters, starting in the morning. Negotiations intensified early last week and continued through the weekend.

"If they can be ironed out, then my guess would be it would increase the level of comfort of the parties and form the building blocks of an agreement," said Moore.

Earlier this week Moore said if the environmental agreement satisfies minister Robert Nault's concerns about the environmental impacts of the project, a land use permit may be issued before other regulatory approvals.

Canadian Arctic Resources Committee research director Kevin O'Reilly says his organization is holding DIAND to the commitments CARC says it made in the environmental assessment of the project..

Calls to Diavik spokesperson Tom Hoefer and company president Stephen Prest were not returned by deadline.