by Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

NNSL (Sep 15/97) - The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has launched an investigation into the appearance of sediment in a fish diversion channel at BHP's Koala Camp.

Just what the problem is with the sediment, and what the danger it poses to the environment or fish, however, remains a closely guarded secret.

Investigators, including two wildlife and fisheries officers, an RCMP computer expert and a member of the federal Justice Department, conducted the search at the site Sept. 4.

Armed with a search warrant, they seized records during what BHP public affairs manager Graham Nicholls called a "surprise visit."

He added that he could not comment directly on the specifics of the investigation. "Generally, it appears to involve sedimentation in the diversion channel which enters Kodiak Lake," Nicholls.

He added that BHP would have released the information on request.

The sediments are not a result of mining activity, he said. "This has to do with sediments entering the diversion channel separate from mining activity," he said.

The records relate to sediment in the channel linking upper Panda Lake and Kodiak Lake. The channel, which starts above Panda Lake and passes Koala Lake, is about two kilometres long.

Koala Camp, soon to be Canada's first diamond mine, is about 300 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife.

Investigators also looked at the channel, said Nicholls.

A Fisheries and Oceans enforcement officer said Friday he could not discuss the investigation or the nature of the problem with the sendiment.

An investigation is "ongoing" and in "very early stages," acting director of conservation and protection for the Central and Arctic region, Grant Pryzynyk said Friday.