SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A spokesperson for Yellowknife's sole remaining diamond polisher says his company has not purchased the defunct Arslanian Cutting Works plant after all.

Bob Bies, general manager of Arslanian Cutting Works, confirmed Wednesday he laid off 17 plant workers and the plant is currently up for sale, but wouldn't comment on who is interested in purchasing it. - NNSL file photo

A former Arslanian employee told Yellowknifer last week that Crossworks Manufacturing, a member of the HRA group of companies, purchased the Arslanian plant - closed since December - but Dylan Dix, HRA's worldwide marketing director, initially refused to comment on that the claim.

Dix now says rumours of Arslanian's sale to HRA are untrue.

"We haven't purchased Arslanian Cutting Works, and we have not laid off anybody," said Dix, speaking from Germany.

He said while he was aware the plant has had its share of troubles, he wasn't aware any staff had received layoff notices last week.

When asked if HRA was interested in purchasing Arslanian, Dix said: "It's not that we don't have any interest, we have lots of interest in the North."

The Crossworks plant is the only diamond polishing plant remaining in operation in Yellowknife. It currently employs 11 workers.

"We're hoping to double that in the upcoming year," said Dix.

Bob Bies, general manager of Arslanian, said on Wednesday he laid off everyone except his accountant about two weeks ago, and confirmed the plant is up for sale and the owners are in talks with potential buyers.

"There is no purchase yet, still talks," said Bies, who was not willing to comment on who the potential buyers are. "It could be someone else besides HRA, there is nothing imminent at this time. I don't know what the future holds.

"There are lots of rumours going around. It's between them and the owners and I'll leave that up to them (to talk about)."

Bies said it's encouraging for the cutting and polishing industry in Yellowknife to know there is interest in the plant.

"It's encouraging because it shows it's not an dead-end industry but we don't really know what the timeline will be," Bies said of the eventual sale of the troubled plant.

Bies said he's hopeful a sale of the plant will allow him to re-hire the 17 staff he had laid-off.

"We'd be glad to talk about it when a deal is done," he said. "It'll be a happy moment."