James Hrynyshyn
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (June 21/02) - The chief environmental officer for the Ekati diamond mine admitted in NWT Supreme Court Wednesday that the company dug a controversial drainage ditch without regulatory approval.

The mine's owner, BHP Billiton, is charged with violating the federal Fisheries Act in connection with the destruction of fish habitat. If found guilty the company faces a maximum fine of $1 million on each of four counts.

Crown prosecutors allege an unauthorized extension to the ditch in 1997 between two lakes at the mine site is responsible for extensive sedimentation and consequent loss of fish habitat in the downstream lake.

During cross-examination Wednesday, Crown prosecutor Alan Regel asked BHP's manager of environmental affairs, John Witteman, if the ditch extension was built without the proper authority from the NWT Water Board.

"That portion ... was constructed under those conditions," replied Witteman.

BHP's defence team, led by lawyer Ross Clark, is arguing that the company took reasonable care to ensure any environmental affects were minimized.

Earlier this month, the mine's former chief engineer, Jaap Zwaan, testified that Department of Fisheries and Oceans and NWT Water Board officials were aware of the threat posed by sediment from the ditch in 1994 and no attempt was made to change the company's plans.

All parties, he said, agreed that it was impossible to avoid some damage to Kodiak Lake's ecosystem. "We would have had to amend the (water) licence, because it was not something we could live with," Zwaan said.

The company also claims the water-diversion channel was covered by earlier permits. But Witteman's testimony suggests not everyone at BHP agreed that it was authorized at the time.

Final arguments in the trial, now in its seventh week, are tentatively scheduled for late August or early September after a summer break. "We hope to have it wrapped up in three weeks," said Ari Slatkoff, a member of the prosecution team.