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Gold/Mining/Energy : Winspear Resources -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ddl who wrote (26821)	12/9/2002 3:45:51 PM
From: blue5star	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 26850

From Stockwatch Aber thread: DJ De Beers, Northwest Territories To Meet On Diamond Supply 12/09/2002 Dow Jones News Services (Copyright © 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) VANCOUVER (Dow Jones)--De Beers Canada Corp. will begin discussions this week with the Northwest Territories government on the supply of rough diamonds from the company's planned Snap Lake underground diamond mine. The discussions are part of a broader socio-economic agreement that will cover a variety of issues, the company said in a news release. The Northwest Territories government is trying to build a local diamond-cutting and polishing business, and wants a portion of the mine's rough diamonds to stay in the territory for that purpose. De Beers Canada said it could supply rough diamonds to the Northwest Territories in two ways: either through the socio-economic agreement being negotiated, or through separate impact and benefits agreements being negotiated with aboriginal groups. The Snap Lake project timetable has been pushed back due to ongoing regulatory requirements. It is now expected to start producing diamonds in the fourth quarter of 2006, assuming all permits are obtained by mid-2004 and construction starts in the second quarter of 2005, a De Beers Canada spokeswoman said. It will be the third diamond mine in the territory, after the Ekati mine, 80%-owned by BHP Billiton Ltd.'s (BHP) diamond unit, and the Diavik mine, which is already processing some ore and should start diamond production early in 2003. Diavik is 60%-owned by a unit of Rio Tinto plc (RTP) and 40%-owned by Aber Diamond Corp. (ABER). De Beers said in the news release that, at full production, the Snap Lake mine will employ 500 people, and it is committed to hire as many local workers as possible. The project is about 220 kilometers northeast of Yellowkife. De Beers also said it doesn't plan to market the Snap Lake diamonds specifically as Canadian, since preliminary research showed that Canadian-branded diamonds are already being well promoted and another Canadian brand would hurt the market. Company Web Site: debeerscanada.com -Lynne Olver, Dow Jones Newswires; 604-669-1595 lynne.olver@dowjones.com