Thorunn Howatt
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 06/02) - Tourism and industry have teamed up on an interesting attraction at Yellowknife's Gallery of the Midnight Sun.

Efrain Perdomo is a diamond-cutter, formerly from Deton'Cho Diamonds. Yellowknife's Gallery of the Midnight Sun features Perdomo four times a week. He has a cutting booth set up for the public to enjoy. - NNSL photo

Four times a week, diamond-cutter extrardinaire, Efrain Perdomo, settles into a glass-surrounded diamond cutting booth and polishes NWT gems for all to see.

"One of my partners, along with Frans down at Deton'Cho came up with the idea," said the Gallery's co-owner manager Lisa Seagrave.

The store had recently added diamonds to its inventory and visitors had all kinds of questions about them.

"There seemed to be a lot of mystery surrounding them."

So last April a special glass booth was set up in the corner and a Deton'Cho polisher was arranged to come into the gallery.

Deton'Cho has since shut its doors but Perdomo, the polisher, continued to make his appearances. The diamonds are from a stored inventory.

Perdomo cuts NWT gems ranging in size around .4 carats. Tourists watch and are able to ask questions and he is happy to explain about his equipment and the polishing process.

"He's not just sitting there polishing diamonds. He loves to talk about what he is doing and share that with interested people," said Seagrave.

Visitors can buy polished stones from the Gallery of the Midnight Sun loose or incorporated into other artworks and jewelry.

Some of the Gallery's gems were selling for less than $100 - a great feature to attract tourists looking for an inexpensive Northern souvenir. But prices vary depending on the inventory available.