Yellowknife (Mar 22/04) - The Panda open pit at Ekati Mine is gearing up for underground operations.

Ekati president Wayne Isaacs is looking for $200 million from the BHP Billiton board, based in Melbourne, Australia, to start up the Panda pit's underground operations.

And Dan Marion, CEO of the Dogrib Group of Companies, says he can march 200 people underground, but they need the appropriate training.

Re-training open pit miners for an underground operation will be a bit of a trick, though, as underground miners possess a different skill set than open pit miners, with an underground mine being more technical and probably less profitable as time goes on, Isaacs said.

Marion agreed.

"In the old days when miners went to work, the son would go to work and the uncle or the father would mentor and the next generation would repeat it, but that's not the way it happens anymore," said Marion.

The company is working to get their current workforce upgraded for underground work.

In response to the rising costs of going underground, Ekati is in the process of following through on a business improvement plan in order to reduce operational costs and put the company in a better position to compete, said Isaacs.

Underground workers require a specialized skill set and Isaac said a few extra hires may have to be made to ensure all the skilled underground labourers are in place.

Marion is in charge of Kate-Procon, a joint venture company owned by the Dogrib First Nation and the Yellowknives Dene, to do tunnelling and supply workers to BHP.

Kate-Procon is looking for funding from the federal government to assist them in their training needs, but Marion said the $4 million funding request is getting bogged down in bureaucracy.

"If I was to say who held up their word the best, the government, the territorial government or BHP, I wish BHP was the government," said Marion.

While the open cut at Panda is almost exhausted, it will soon be at Koala as well, said Isaacs.

About 40 per cent of the value of the resource is expected to be found underground, said Ekati's president.

While underground operations are not as profitable as open-pit operations, Isaacs said the mine will remain viable into the future.

Ekati currently employs close to 800 direct employees and another 653 through permanent contractors.

Twenty-eight per cent of employees are Northern aboriginal employees with 57 per cent of overall employees at Ekati being from the North.

The company is also looking to prove up some targets held within their current lease. A drilling program is scheduled for 2004 with plans to do a bulk sample in the 3,500 to 4,000 tonne range.

Two other kimberlite pipes found within the lease, Fox and Sable, have been determined to be not as valuable as either the Koala or Panda pits, said Isaacs.

Isaacs estimates the mine produces 12,500 tonnes of ore per day, which equates to 4.5 million tonnes of ore per year and five million carats of diamonds per year.

The winter road has been good this year and all Ekati movement should be done by the end of March, said Isaacs.

A CN Rail strike has caused a few logistical problems. Getting all the required fuel and ammonium nitrate up to the site was a feat Isaacs has personally kept a close eye on.

"We've had to send trucks to Edmonton as opposed to receiving supplies off the rail from Hay River," said Isaacs.