Jennifer McPhee
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Dec 24/02) - De Beers is going through an environmental assessment to get permits for its upcoming Snap Lake diamond mine.

John McConnell, vice-president of NWT projects for De Beers Canada Mining Inc., explains the company's perspective on employment targets, supply of rough diamonds and opportunities created by the mine.

John McConnell holds a recently released booklet that lists jobs available at De Beer's upcoming Snap Lake mine. The book explains what training and skills are required. - Jennifer McPhee/NNSL photo

Yellowknifer: Why did De Beers change its mind and agree to supply rough diamonds to the secondary industry in the NWT?

John McConnell: I don't think we changed our mind. There was a bit of a misconception out there. But it was certainly our preference not to supply rough to local suppliers and local cutters.

Yellowknife: Can you explain why?

JM: We would rather market all of our diamonds through London as being generic, not as a country-specific or province-specific commodity. We feel the marketing system we've developed is appropriate to increasing demand for diamonds.

Yellowknife: Do you think there's a market for a Canadian brand?

JM: We've done some preliminary research. The way they do this research is they go into a shop in Idaho and ask people, 'If you had your choice would you buy a Canadian diamond, does it mean anything to you?' The preliminary indication is people aren't necessarily interested in a specific diamond.

Yellowknife: But if it was marketed right, would they be?

JM: Could be. But Snap Lake production will make up less than one per cent of our overall production. Is it in our best interest to try and market a Snap Lake diamond? Probably not. But we support the GNWT's efforts to support a secondary diamond industry here.

Yellowknife:: De Beers and the GNWT began talks on a socio-economic agreement. Anything concrete come out of that yet?

JM: No. It was a very good opening discussion. We'll get down to serious discussions in January.

Yellowknife: Can you explain what community members can expect to see in benefit impact agreements with De Beers?

JM: A financial component, business opportunities, and in some cases assistance with infrastructure.

Yellowknife: Does the financial component mean equity?

JM: In our case, we'll give groups an option of equity or flat cash payments similar to the approach taken by BHP and Diavik.

Yellowknife: Will the amounts be similar to BHP and Diavik?

JM: Well, the projects are very dissimilar. Snap Lake would be at 3,000 tonnes a day. Ekati is running at over 10,000 tonnes a day.

Their grade's higher than our grade. I think you have to look at the economics of the project. And you have to remember that it's an impact benefit agreement, so it's for an impact. Snap Lake is less than 550 hectares in size, so it's very small. We feel our impact is considerably smaller than the other two mines.

Yellowknife: How many people will the mine employ?

JM: Just over 500 people during operation, working on a rotating schedule two weeks in, two weeks out. People seem to be quite happy with the rotation BHP and Diavik have adopted.

Yellowknife: Can you explain why the company wants to set goals instead of targets when it comes to Northern and aboriginal hire?

JM: Well, I've spent a fair number of years in the North, and there's no sense setting targets if they're not achievable.

I don't think we really understand what are achievable targets right now. We won't know until Diavik's been up and running for a while.

We hear lots of talk about a pipeline, the number of people that's going to take. And, often times, targets become the maximum instead of the minimum.

Our preference is to set goals. We think we have a good track record in other countries where 80 per cent of the employees are aboriginal -- starting with the most senior people right now to the guys driving the trucks in the pit. It took 30 years to achieve that. We would rather set goals, have something measurable and show continued improvement real after year.

Yellowknife: What's the biggest challenge when it comes to finding employees in the North?

JM: The low levels of education ... We're certainly focusing on apprenticeships.

We're going to focus on high schools. We're in the schools now, trying to get kids interested in mining careers into a database, so we can maintain contact as they progress through high school into university. We'll mentor them and provide summer jobs.

Yellowknife: What about the learning centres?

JM: In some communities, there's a real shortage of proper facilities. What we're prepared to do is provide some facilities in communities where it's not there and expand it where it is.

But we're not going to do everything. We want commitments from the GNWT to provide staff for those facilities and commitments from community that they will maintain the facilities.

Yellowknife: Do you think the GNWT expects too much of De Beers?

JM: I don't think they expect too much. We expect them to maintain their responsibility in areas such as education and health and social services. We'll assist. But they are still ultimately responsible for that. We have no intention of taking over that role. We want that division maintained.

Yellowknife: Where else is De Beers exploring in Canada?

JM: The NWT is where we spend most of our money. But there's Nunavut, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

Yellowknife: Will there be a fourth diamond mine up here -- another De Beers diamond mine?

JM: Yeah, I think there will be. We have a project about 100 kilometres east of Snap Lake that will follow closely behind. We're still waiting for exploration report.

Yellowknife: The Snap Lake Mine will last 25 years?

JM: About that. And potentially 25 more years after that.