Sirius Diamonds employee Shane Fox sets up a diamond saw to cut rough diamonds. The factory plans to double production and increase staff by more than 20 this year. - NNSL file photo

Sirius Diamonds president Stephen Ben-Oleil made the announcement on Wednesday. The Yellowknife factory was the first large-scale diamond cutting facility to open in Canada. The plant opened in 1999.

"We had built the factory at the outset to cut 5,000 carats a month," says Ben-Oleil.

"But BHP (Diamonds) was only able to supply 2,500, so we're going to go ahead and double production anyway over the next 12 months.

"We're hoping and anticipating to get rough (diamonds) as well from Rio Tinto, which would take it to more than double."

Ben-Oleil says the company plans to increase the factory's workforce from its current 28 employees to around 45 to 50 over the next 12 months. That would mean an additional $1 million in annual wages.

He says the company plans to hire as many Northern workers as they can through Aurora College's diamond- cutting program.

"We're going to take everybody we can locally, and we'll be bringing some in from overseas," says Ben-Oleil.

"We've found the best employee for our factory is indeed a Northerner. Our employees who have stayed since the outset, a large part of them, and those (we) see a future with, are from the North."

Mayor Gord Van Tighem says the good news just goes to show that the NWT's diamond market will only continue to grow.

"The vision is becoming reality," says Van Tighem.

"We've jumped through leaps and hurtles and the GNWT, in this case, probably quite rightly invested a lot of money and it's starting to pay off."