Yellowknife (Dec 17/04) - Ekati Mine's water licence has been extended by the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board to Feb. 28.

"Our main water licence expires at the end of this month. We applied for and received an extension," said Denise Burlingame, senior public affairs officer for BHP Billiton, owner of Ekati Mine.

There is only a remote possibility the water licence wrangling might shut down operations at the diamond mine, 300km northeast of Yellowknife, Burlingame said.

Bob Wooley, executive director with the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board, agrees.

The issue of renewing BHP's water licence involves "issues of interpretation," he said.

These involve what Wooley called water quality constraints and BHP's ability to do construction at Ekati.

The bottom line on the licence negotiations, said Wooley, is that the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board is "willing to work on this licence some more. It's not anywhere near crisis at this point.

"We're talking and we accept BHP's concerns are not frivolous," Wooley said.