Yellowknife (Aug 30/06) - The North Slave Metis Alliance was looking to the future when it put pen to paper last week and sign off on an impact benefit agreement with De Beers for the company's Snap Lake diamond mine.

"It gives us an opportunity to earn our way to prosperity," said Bill Enge president of the North Slave Metis Alliance. The deal with De Beers Canada was four years in the making, but negotiations took only four days once they began, said Enge.

Bill Enge, left, North Slave Metis Alliance president, and Jim Gowans, De Beers Canada president and chief executive officer, get ready to sign the impact benefit agreement providing training and employment-related opportunities to beneficiaries of Enge's group. - photo courtesy of North Slave Metis

"It addresses the needs of the North Slave Metis Alliance members in the form of providing employment opportunities," said Enge.

One of the centrepieces of the impact benefit agreement was a deal to manufacture shotcrete for the Snap Lake project. Shotcrete is a cement mixture sprayed on to the surfaces in mine tunnels to provide support, reduce erosion and improve air flow.

The North Slave Metis Alliance's business arm, Metcor, recently created a joint-venture company called Metcrete that will produce shotcrete at a batching plant in the Kam Lake industrial park.

Metcrete will employ a minimum of eight North Slave Metis beneficiaries producing all of the shotcrete needed at Snap Lake during the life of the mine, said Enge.

Shotcrete will be transported from Yellowknife to the Snap Lake by Metcor's trucking division.

Educational opportunities at the mine will also be important and the agreement guarantees several positions will be created at Snap Lake for Metis beneficiaries, including one guaranteed apprenticeship, three underground mine training positions and three other training opportunities.

"We want to create opportunities for people as opposed to trying maximize a cash payout," said Enge.

Along with training positions, a monetary component and scholarships were also agreed upon in the agreement, said Enge.

The cash payment compensates the North Slave Metis for loss of traditional lands, said Enge. The value of the payment was not disclosed.

The negotiations between De Beers Canada and the Metis group ran quite smoothly, said Cathie Bolstad public and corporate affairs for De Beers Canada's Snap Lake project.

"They shared their vision with us, which was to be profitable and reinvest in education," she said.

The signing of the impact benefit agreement was the third agreement reached for the Snap Lake project, said Bolstad. Agreements had previously been signed with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, November 2005, and the Tlicho government, March 2006.

De Beers Canada is still negotiating an impact benefit agreement with the Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation.