Yellowknife (Sep 29/03) - The government of the Northwest Territories has been dealt the lead hand in crafting a national diamond policy.

RWED Minister Jim Antoine says the territorial government is preparing a national diamond strategy.

It came about through recognition from other provinces and territories that the territorial government is the country's leading expert on the diamond industry, Resources Minister Jim Antoine said last Tuesday.

Mike Vaydik, general manager of the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines says his organization is disappointed that industry wasn't consulted on the diamond strategy.

"The premier admitted the best expertise in the diamond industry was sitting in the room last Friday when we saw the 13-slide presentation," said Vaydik.

The chief executive officer for BHP, the president of Diavik and the project manager for De Beers were all present, along with three representatives from cutting factories.

"None of us had been included in the development of the strategy," said Vaydik.

"It was basically motherhood stuff. They said they have a 70-page document and we would have liked to have been included in the development of it," said Vaydik.

The manager of NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines also said he was wary that the diamond strategy was looking for a way to increase revenue from mining to subsidize the diamond-polishing industry. "We don't know what's in it. It's pretty difficult to offer support when you don't know what's there. We'd offer support if the process was open and transparent," said Vaydik.

Antoine said a number of people from the Northwest Territories have travelled to Botswana, Antwerp, Tel Aviv and London and have familiarized themselves with the diamond industry. "It's in the very early stages of the development. The premiers have agreed to pursue this and the government of the NWT have been given the lead to draft something," said Antoine.

Antoine said the commitment from Kakfwi to the premiers was to produce a document within the territorial government for presentation at a later date.