Canadian diamond mines: good or bad?

[velvetpage]

I'm talking specifically about the Victor Project,, in Northern Ontario, right against James Bay.

I've never been that far north in any area. It's a day beyond where the last road ends; you get their by taking the Polar Bear Express train. Right now, a road across the ice connects coastal communities; these communities are actually more cut off in the summer, because then it's boats or planes - no ground transport at all.

These communities are almost entirely Cree in their population. They have some of Canada's highest rates of addiction, mental illness, and suicide. They were previously home to, and source of students for, residential schools, possibly the blackest mark on Canada's history and certainly the longest.

The DeBeers family is building an open mine for diamonds there.

I read about this just now in Saturday's paper, which had a large spread about the Mohawk College recruitment team that went there to talk to high school students about its nursing program, which reserves a certain number of spots for Native students with the intention of improving access to health care in remote communities. The team went up last year, too, and says there's a palpable difference there this year. The mines are almost ready to open, and the sense of hope in the community has increased tremendously. There are jobs and opportunities with De Beers, and more spin-off jobs in hotels, transportation, and the service sector as the general level of wealth in the community skyrockets from barely-subsistence to solid working class over the next few years. The native community overall approves of the project and sees it as the road to the future. (Note: I know the native communities are exempt from provinicial taxes. I hope the Federal government will exempt them from Federal taxes for the first few years while they get on their feet, and invest in a good banking infrastructure that doesn't exist up there, to help people manage that new income.)

And on the other hand. . . De Beers is a horrible company. They're responsible for some of the worst corporate abuses of power in Africa and elsewhere. They artificially drive up the price of diamonds, which should not be the most precious of gems because they're actually quite easy to come by. I find it disturbing that the diamond mines being opened in Canada are all located in the spots where the people are most ripe for exploitation of any kind. I'm sure that's partly simple geology, but is there more going on there? Have they chosen that area because they can control its economy so completely that no one will want to kick them out, even if they renege on many of their promises and destroy what they said they'd preserve? What kind of response would whistle-blowers get in the community, when all the wealth comes from this one company with a century's worth of African blood on its hands already?

EDIT: Another link, this one entirely negative, which unfortunately doesn't address economic concerns at all: http://www.greenkarat.com/about/issuesanswers/gem.asp?gclid=CMSGrvz035ECFQLwPAod9jZSeg

So, friends list, what do you think? Net good, net bad, or an even mixture of both?

Comments

[pyat.livejournal.com]

I hear the Great Wall of China is visible to observers in the Andromeda Galaxy!*


_{*Observers are assumed to be in possession of a space-based inferometric telescope array occupying an area of at least 1 square parsec.}

[(Anonymous)]

I used to work in the diamond industry as a field geologist during the late 80s- early 90s. When I mentioned the possibility of working for this project to some of my colleagues at a recent conference, the almost universal reaction was a quick intake of breath.

Their reputation is just that bad.

deBeers, through a series of cutout companies and abuse of the fairly lax Canadian mining code were able to prevent any successful diamond mining in Canada for over thirty years. Monopros and its various incarnations would stake and then sit on any possible diamond site - no intention of doing any work but with every intention of preventing anyone else from working. When the laws stated that the claim must be put into production or let lapse, a 'new' company would take over the claims and begin the process again.

Their economic policies are often a similar shell game - the company store. You can't actually get the money you are owed because you are too busy paying for the things you need to survive at a very, very inflated cost. If deBeers was to offer the Cree the same sort of deal that the Innu negotiated with DiaMet and DHL for the arctic mines, then that would be good... but expecting them to hold to it is problematical. Particularly in Ontario which has poor native and labor policies of late.

There are very good reasons why high-ranking deBeers executives often have an arrest on sight warrant in the US.

It could be a good thing. Could be. But their reputation is so bad that I turned down work with them - I was told quite bluntly by several colleagues that if I did, I wouldn't be able to work anywhere else.

Just sayin'

Jeff

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Yikes...

Thanks for the insight, Jeff. That does put a different complexion on things.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Which is to say, the outside people who go there to run the mines are going to be either unable to get a job elsewhere, or willing to do whatever the company requires because they know they won't get work elsewhere if they're let go. That's a bad situation.

And I intensely dislike the idea that they've been sitting on these claims for decades and refusing to work them. It doesn't bode well for their future intentions.

[(Anonymous)]

They made some very, very determined efforts to buy out DiaMet and DHL back in the late 80s. According to some of the published accounts, the efforts bordered on legality. At that time, however, deBeers was busy trying to plug the leaky Russian diamond embargo as well as prevent the Australian mines from coming online.

It is my understanding that the federal government intervened on the side of the Canadian mining concerns. deBeers had too many things to deal with.

Despite the best efforts of deBeers, the advent of practical airborne geophysics, computer modeling, and cheap computers to do the modeling on, proved too much for them to deal with. In the past, the work was very manpower intensive over a very few spots. Suddenly, instead of a few dozen anomalies to check, there were THOUSANDS. Each one, a potential kimberlite pipe. Kimberlite pipes are actually quite small, only a few Ha in size. And, since the material is quite readily erroded, they are often the site of lakes or swamps thanks to our wonderful post glacial climate.

Now that there are Canadian diamonds, pleasantly blood and indentured labor free, they want in on the act. Canadian and Aussie diamonds command a premium price on the market due to their lack of blood, violence, etc.

For those feeling skeptical about the benefits for the community, please look into the experiences with DiaMet in the NWT - the Innu pretty much own and run the mine and much of the the money goes to long term economic and social development. I am not sure if that is a game that deBeers is capable of playing.

I worked for a German uranium mining firm in the arctic and they were incapable of this sort of interaction with the locals, feeling it was better to influence officials and then conduct 'business as usual' as they did in Latin America and Africa. It did not go over well - the company no longer operates in Canada.

So, yeah, I am in favor of such development provided it is done right - particularly for the natives.

Jeff