Roads paved with diamonds in central NWT?

Page S14

Environmental groups, industry, government and Aboriginal groups are each looking for different things in the geologically rich Slave province of the Northwest Territories.

This year's environmental review of a proposed BHP Minerals Canada Ltd. diamond mine in the Lac de Gras area may set the tone for development in the region over the next decade or so. It will almost certainly indicate which group's wish list is most likely to be met.

The proposal for the mine, which would be both open pit and underground, follows considerable exploration of the area by BHP, a Canadian arm of the Australian multinational. They found gem-quality diamonds in Kimberlite pipes about 300 kilometres north east of Yellowknife.

The mine proposal is a relatively small operation and the technology would also have relatively little environmental impact because of the nature of diamond mining. It mostly uses crushing techniques to extract the diamonds from the surrounding material. And because the finished product is light, transportation infrastructure impact could be minimal.

But the concerns of environmentalists like Larry A. Reynolds, of the Sierra Legal Defence Fund centre on the spin-off effects of this first significant industrial foray into what is one of the last large pristine regions. His concerns focus on two similar problems: The cumulative effects of development in the area and the lower start-up costs for subsequent developments. He said that neither potential problem is being properly addressed by the BHP mine environmental review.

"No mine in the NWT has ever been environmentally reviewed," Reynolds said to a small crowd at the University of Alberta in February. "And the BHP project has been exempted from the review process."

On the heels of this development are dozens of others, including similar mine proposals. The more disturbing ideas are for major capital works to provide access and power for development: a 660 kilometre all-weather highway connecting to the Arctic Ocean near Coppermine, a new seaport at the end of the road and a major hydroelectric development which would dam the pristine Hood River. In turn, worries Reynolds, the ease of access to the area would make it financially feasible to build more intrusive operations with potentially catastrophic environmental impact, such as base-metal extraction sites, which use chemical processes to produce thousands of tons of ore to be hauled out over the road or a possible rail line.

"There is a tremendous amount of industry pressure to see this through quickly," said Reynolds, "and we're concerned that a truly proper review will be by-passed." He questions the rush in the face of an almost complete lack of "base line data," or information about what the Slave geological province is like now. (The NWT and federal governments announced five-year "environmental, social and economic" study of the province on Dec. 9, 1994. The BHP proposal "will not be dependent on the completion of the regional study," according to a federal news release.)

Reynolds also questions the rush to have the BHP mine reviewed under the old Environmental Assessment and Review Process (EARP) instead of the much more stringent Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA), which passed into law in January. The EARP panel was named in December by federal Environmental minister Sheila Copps. Chaired by Calgary lawyer Letha Maclachlan, it includes Walter Kupsch, a University of Saskatchewan geologist, Jessie Sloan, a Yellowknife economic policy consultant and Cindy Kenny-Gilday, an advisor on Aboriginal issues from Yellowknife and the 1994 recipient of the National Aboriginal Achievement Award.

John Mathers, panel manager for the BHP proposal, said that the fears are, at least to a certain extent, overstated.

"The base line data will have to be provided, in accordance with the terms of refence of the panel."

He explained that the panel was under EARP auspices because it was set up before th passage of the CEAA into law, although he confirmed that the panel's "time line" began at the start of January 1995, Mathers said the panel would take into account all particulars of the BHP proposal, but the concerns such as other major developments, which have, he emphasized, not been proposed by BHP, would be reviewed by the five-year regional study.

BHP has already been operating their Koala Camp at the Lac de Gras site. It is technically an exploratory bulk sampling facility, but it is large enough to employ hundreds of people. Reynolds asked his audience in Edmonton where exploration ends and development starts.

"And all of this has been done without much at all in the way of environmental review," he said.

All of this development, both actual and proposed, will be impacted by the unsettled Aboriginal issues, including land claims and contrasting objectives of the Dene, Dogrib and Gwich'in councils and Nunavut Tunnagavik Inc. Each group has its own position, as does the environmental lobby.

"Nothing is certain even about which way different groups are going to want to go," said Reynolds. ":And we'll see how much they consider the indirect impact of development, and whether any of the groups can deal with the kind of money that BHP (with assets of more than $27 billion) can allocate to this review.

The corporation wants to review panel decision late in 1995 and the mine in operation by the end of 1997,.

But Reynolds articulates the Sierra Legal Defence Fund's position.

"We're not absolutely opposed to any development, but this is a pristine area, an area that will have trouble regenerating itself if any mistakes are made, and the decision to go ahead will be based on a position taken lacking any base line data. We have the chance to avoids the mistakes (in the Slave province) that we've made almost everywhere else. We've got to ask ourselves, 'Why are we rushing this so much? And can we afford it'?"