Yellowknife (Sep 01/04) - Patrick Kelleher has no sympathy for those who complain about air service to Yellowknife.

"It's great, really," said Kelleher.

Last month, he was in New Mexico, Vancouver and Tokyo sourcing equipment for the Northern diamond industry.

Next month he'll be back in Antwerp, Netherlands, where he entered the secretive world of diamonds in 1969.

"My father-in-law gave me a job counting diamonds; it was boring, but one thing led to another," he said.

The Irish expatriate characterizes the diamond industry as a small village scattered across the globe where everyone is known personally or by reputation.

"Everything is confidential," he said.

That means he is never at liberty to offer even a general description of what he's doing for clients.

BHP Billiton brought him to Yellowknife first as a consultant, and then everyone was asking for supplies, Kelleher said.

So two years ago he opened Kelver Diamond Supplies and Consulting Ltd. in Stanton Plaza.

Start-up challenges

Starting a business presents a few special challenges to non-nationals.

The territorial government provided some assistance, but most of the start-up capital was his own.

"Getting a credit card for a new business was frustrating, even humiliating," he said.

Kelleher works the telephone and the Internet to contact equipment manufacturers, but meets with suppliers to get the job done.

Ninety per cent of the equipment comes from outside Canada and that shows no sign of changing, he said.

The trend is toward automated cutting and polishing, even in countries where labour costs are low.

"When I started in Antwerp, there were 25,000 people working there in cutting and polishing. Today there are about 1,000," he said.

"The future is in automation."