Yellowknife (Oct 22/03) - Although based out of Montreal, Carole Duffrechou comes from a little town in France called Manciet, population 800 -- yet she still marvels at the hospitality she is shown here.

On her first day in Yellowknife, Duffrechou, the Canadian correspondent for Liberation, one of the largest daily newspapers in France, was invited to share Thanksgiving dinner with a local family --whose name she'd rather not to share.

In the territorial capital last week to do a series of interviews on the diamond mining industry, Duffrechou sat down with Yellowknifer, over a good bottle of wine, to provide her views on Yellowknife, the Northwest Territories and the development of the diamond mining industry.

Yellowknife: What did you think of Yellowknife?

CD: I loved it. I found the people so friendly and welcoming. There's a great sense of hospitality here ... a sense of closeness between people.

Yellowknife: What surprised you most about the Northwest Territories?

CD: I was able to fly out to Diavik this week. Unfortunately, it was a very cloudy day. On the way back it got a little better. You could see the lakes, the ground and snow. The hugeness of this territory, and for no one to be there, is beyond European understanding.

Yellowknife: What is your impression of Diavik?

CD: The mine is an island, 20 km square. When you think about all the money you get out of this place, it's something. It's a little island in the middle of an immensity.

Yellowknife: What is Diavik like on the ground?

CD: The facilities are new, everything is nice. There's one pit and two pipes. The trucks are huge. The wheels are three metres high. I'm about half the size of the wheel. Things are huge. This is going to be a huge company.

Yellowknife: Will you ever come back?

CD: I'm definitely coming back. I want to do a story on the Northwest Passage and then there's the oil -- the Mackenzie pipeline project. There's something one has to follow. There's a couple of very good reasons I would like to come back.