Adam Johnson
Northern News Services
Published Friday, December 14, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - A decision to allow diamond exploration around Drybones Bay has one southern company breathing a sigh of relief, but has Yellowknives Dene representatives furious.

Ndilo Chief Fred Sangris points out Drybones Bay on the map. Yellowknives Dene are furious that mining exploration has been approved in the area, which Yellowknife First Nations consider sacred. - Adam Johnson/NNSL photo

The Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board voted last week to recommend Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl approve a permit for Consolidated Gold Win Ventures Inc. to drill 18 holes in a swath between Drybones Bay and Wool Bay on Great Slave Lake.

The area is about 50 kilometres southeast of Yellowknife.

"This is the very last stronghold," Sangris said of the area in a Dec. 7 press conference.

He said the land holds several burial sites, and is an important hunting and fishing ground.

"We have nowhere else to go."

According to Consolidated's website, Drybones Bay contains the "largest untested diamondiferous kimberlite in this region of the Slave craton," which holds Canada's largest diamond operations.

Sangris said he was worried escalating development may eventually encroach on burial sites, and Yellowknives would be told to move them.

"That's not going to happen," he said.

"We're willing to go all the way on this."

During the press conference, Sangris would not say what action he might take if exploration is approved, but said, "It's not going to be a quiet one."

Souhail Abi-Farrage, chair of Consolidated Gold Win Ventures, said his company is committed to working with aboriginal peoples in the North, and protecting sacred sites.

"We are here to have a partnership," he said. "Everyone will benefit from this."

He said the decision to recommend exploration comes after two-and-a-half years of deliberation and public hearings, something his company - which has holdings across the country and in the U.S. - is unused to.

"It was a lengthy and painful process," he said.

"In Quebec (a permit) took 24 hours."

As part of the recommendation, the company has agreed to stay at least 100 metres away from any burial site, and all equipment will be brought to and from the site via helicopter to limit affect on the surrounding area.

"We'll stay away farther if we have to," Abi-Farrage said.

He said he has not been in contact with the Akaitcho, or its leadership.

Sangris said the Akaitcho are still reeling from the damage caused by a fire in Drybones Bay that destroyed several grave sites.

In July, Snowfield Development Corp., one of the companies exploring the region, took elders to visit the damaged site, and committed to fix some of the damage.

"They didn't follow up on that promise," Sangris said.

Robert Paterson, president of Snowfield, said he was still waiting to hear from Yellowknives on what they wanted his company to do.

"We'll move ahead as soon as they know what they want done there."

Judy McLinton, media representative for Environment and Natural Resources, said the cause of the fire is "still under investigation."