SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
It was a busy summer for the NWT Diamond Centre, which received more than 500 visitors a month between May and August this year, and is anticipating even higher numbers by the end of aurora season.

Henry Zhang, manager of the Diamond Centre, explains the weight measurements for diamonds to tourists. He said he has been pleasantly surprised by the numbers of people visiting the centre this summer. - James Goldie/NNSL photo

Henry Zhang, manager of the NWT Diamond Centre, described the flow of visitors to the centre as "very steady" and said he was surprised by just how busy it's been. Zhang, who was previously a tour operator at Aurora Village, took on this position in April and was told to expect a low season during the summer.

"I said, 'Oh, I'm lucky. I will take my time to study.' But no!" he said. "It's been so busy!"

The NWT Diamond Centre is owned and operated by Crossworks Manufacturing, a diamond-polishing company with operations in Yellowknife and Sudbury, Ont. Crossworks buys diamonds from local mines and then cuts and polishes them at the Diamond Centre. Polishing demonstrations are open to the public three times a week and tour operators frequently bring groups to watch the process.

Traavis Ashburner, managing director of brand development at Crossworks Manufacturing, said that tour operators are among the centre's most important community partners in promoting the centre.

"The predominant focus of our marketing strategy is to work through and for our partners in the community," said Ashburner.

Those partners include tour operators but also hotels and the visitor centre, which carry multi-lingual flyers advertising the centre. They have also relied on some traditional advertising methods such as radio and print advertisements, too.

"We've tried to reach people because sometimes people up here don't even realize we're here," he said. "The local people from Yellowknife are quite receptive, they quite like having the centre here because it's another thing to do and it's one of the only things to do that's close and it doesn't cost any money."

The Diamond Centre also sells Crossworks diamonds. Ashburner was not able to disclose figures relating to these sales but said he wanted to emphasize that selling diamonds is not their main goal there.

"The focus of the visitor centre is a way, first and foremost, to experience diamonds in the North," he said. "You have the opportunity, if you choose, to buy Canadian diamonds. But we designed this to be an experience first and a sales opportunity second."

According to Ashburner, the centre was never meant to be a money-making venture.

"What I can tell you for a fact is at this point we're not profitable," he said. "We run this with the long-term goal of breaking even."

Jose Kobashigawa and Gloria Varela, tourists from Peru, came to Yellowknife for the aurora borealis and learned about the history of mining in the area when reading up on the city before coming. They noticed one of the Diamond Centre's brochures at their hotel and because it was close by they thought they would check it out.

"It's very interesting, the process where these diamonds come from," said Kobashigawa. "In Peru, we don't have diamond mines. In the whole country we only have four places that sell (certified) diamonds."

"There are other stores that sell diamonds without certificates, but only four (that are) certified," said Varela.

Before leaving, she and Kobashigawa purchased a diamond; an expensive souvenir to remember their time in the territory.

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