Diamonds vanish

It was bound to happen sooner or later. On Dec. 5 Sirius Diamonds in Yellowknife had followed its usual step to ship boxes of cut and polished gems to its headquarters in Vancouver. The diamonds went via Canadian North to Edmonton and were transfered to an Air Canada flight to Vancouver. Only problem was only nine of the 10 boxes made it to the coast.

Maria Canton
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 05/01) - Sirius Diamonds has no hope of finding a package of diamonds that went missing last month, and is taking steps to avoid such losses in the future.

Fact file - The North has three diamond cutting and polishing plants. - BHP Diamonds is the only company mining diamonds in the North. - Sirius Diamonds ships $1 million worth of precious gems a month.

"It would be nice, but I don't expect to ever see it again," Stephen Ben-Oliel, president of Sirius Diamonds, said of the package that went missing en route to Vancouver.

He would not disclose the value of the diamonds.

The incident was the first reported loss of gems since mining and processing of diamonds began in the Northwest Territories.

Ben-Oliel said the missing package was one of 10 the company sent to Vancouver Dec. 5. It left Yellowknife on a Canadian North flight to Edmonton, where it was transferred to an Air Canada carrier bound for Vancouver.

"What we know is 10 packages got on the plane and only nine got off in Vancouver, you can call it a mysterious disappearance if you want, but either way (the parcel) has been missing for a month," he said.

Sirius ships around $1 million in diamonds a month. Before the Dec. 5 incident, it sent the gems south daily by airline cargo because it was the most economical method.

Now the diamond company makes weekly shipments with Brinks Canada Ltd.

"Theft is part of the diamond business. Diamonds get shipped all over the world everyday, some go missing some don't," Ben-Olier said.

Sgt. Ray Halwas, manager of the RCMP diamonds project in the NWT, said police are investigating.

"The RCMP are not investigating a theft, we are investigating a missing parcel," said Halwas from his Yellowknife office.

A Vancouver-based Air Canada spokesperson said the airline is working with the police in the investigation.

Canadian North president Carmen Loberg said he is not aware of any such incident involving his airline.

"As far as I know we have not been contacted by anyone regarding this incident and I am not aware of any investigation," said Loberg.