Richard Gleeson & Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 31/00) - With the clock ticking on the ice road season, the attempt to negotiate a key regulatory agreement for the Diavik diamond mine have intensified.

Negotiators were working through the weekend in hopes of reaching an environmental monitoring agreement for the proposed mine.

Earlier in the week, federal officials expressed optimism about reaching an agreement by last Friday. That did not happen, but negotiators said the parties were reportedly close to hammering out an agreement and decided to work through the weekend.

The urgency of the negotiation increased Jan. 19, when a Diavik permit application to start preliminary construction work on the mine was turned down by the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs.

The following day DIAND Minister Robert Nault announced pre-construction work on the mine would not proceed without the agreement and other regulatory approvals.

At about the same time, the ice road to the mine opened. The road is open for only about 65 days a year. Diavik is hoping to use it to ship up 1,200-1,300 truck loads of fuel and material it needs to build the $1.3 billion mine. It is proposing to build the mine over the next two years.

Five aboriginal groups are represented at the negotiation. At least one chief says there should be a place at the table for one more.

Deninu Ku'e chief, Don Ballsillie, said although the Diavik project is on traditional Akaitcho hunting grounds, the company has not included the Treaty 8 people in the benefits agreement.

"The Diavik project is within Akaitcho Territory, yet the company representatives feel that our First Nation should not receive any of the benefits from the mine," he said.

The proposed Diavik mine on Lac de Gras is about 20 kilometers from the BHP Ekati mine. Balsillie said the agreement with BHP came with or without his support.

"With BHP, we sat at the table until the 11th hour," he said. "I put up a strong opposition, but I decided the best thing to do was to get the agreement signed."

"With the memorandum of understanding we negotiated the sharing accord," he recalled. "It didn't matter if I signed or not -- we all get a share of the proceeds."

Diavik representatives were unavailable for comment.