Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jun 30/00) - The last of two court actions that flowed from the Diavik Diamond mine environmental approval was dropped on Tuesday.

Diavik Diamond Mines Inc. has agreed to provide the Canadian Arctic Resources Committee (CARC) with $400,000. The money is to go toward an independent study of the impacts of future developments in the mineral rich area known as the Slave Geological Province.

In return, CARC will drop the court action it launched last December, shortly after the Lac de Gras diamond project received environmental approval. At the time it launched the action, CARC said the project should undergo a new review overseen by an independent panel.

"We have an opportunity now, with this agreement, to do some substantial and thorough cumulative effects work in the region that will be a benefit for any development coming down the road," said CARC executive director John Crump.

The $400,000 is to be paid over four years, starting in 2004, Crump said. Any money that CARC gets from other sources before 2002, Diavik will match dollar for dollar out of the $400,000.

Ironically, in a March 1999 address to the NWT Chamber of Commerce, Diavik government and public relations manager Doug Willy called the study of cumulative effects "the next anti-development tool from the (environmentalists)."

Asked whether the court action was launched with a view to leveraging such a cash settlement from the company, Crump replied, "There's no question of a sell-out here. In terms of CARC and our independence, there's nothing in the agreement that prevents us from continuing with the work we've always done. The only trade-off here for us, was that we agreed to drop our litigation."

A judicial review of the environmental approval of the project was also requested, for different reasons, by the North Slave Metis Alliance.

The alliance dropped that action in March, when it signed an impact benefits agreement with the company.

The alliance said the terms of the IBA, which have not been disclosed, addressed the concerns raised in the court action.

Crump said CARC is viewing the $400,000 as seed money for the study.

"There's an opportunity for the federal government to participate, and other companies working in the region as well to get involved."

The study will provide information about the ecological indicators and thresholds which CARC believes will assist in evaluating the cumulative effects of future developments in the Slave Geological Province.

Details of how long the study will take and when it will begin are still being worked out, Crump said.

Calls to Diavik were not returned by deadline.