Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jun 19/00) - BHP Diamonds Inc. is facing eight charges under the Fisheries Act for harm it has allegedly caused to fish habitat in three lakes near Ekati mine.

The company was charged June 9 by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Its first court appearance is scheduled for July 4 in Yellowknife.

"In plain language, a lot of silt and sediment wound up in Kodiak Lake, Moose Lake and Little Lake," said Ron Allen, DFO area director for the Western NWT.

"We're suggesting that that amount of sediment being deposited in a small lake isn't a good thing for fish and fish eggs. We'll try and prove in court that it was substantial."

Maximum fine for each of the eight charges is $1 million. Six of the charges also carry the possibility of imprisonment for up to three years. The activities for which the company is being charged occurred between 1994 and 1997.

BHP spokesperson Denise Burlingame said she could not comment on the charges because the matter is before the courts.

"I can say that we don't agree with the charges and we will be defending ourselves," Burlingame said.

All three lakes drain into Lac de Gras. The silt and sediment was deposited into Kodiak and flowed from there into the other two lakes.

The charges stem from an investigation that began in 1997. That year, DFO, RCMP and federal justice department officials, armed with a search warrant, seized BHP records as part of an investigation of silt in a fish diversion channel which enters Kodiak Lake.

In 1998, the Independent Environmental Monitoring Agency -- an Ekati watchdog organization established as a condition of federal environmental approval of the mine -- noted oxygen levels in Kodiak Lake had plummeted as a result of sewage effluent and other organic matter the company had pumped into it.

BHP responded by pumping air into the lake in an attempt to restore oxygen levels.

In its environmental agreement and environmental assessment report, BHP said its diamond mining operation would not harm fish in Kodiak Lake.