|
Premier Kakfwi apologizes to De Beers Accused mining giant of peddling ‘blood diamonds’ from rebel groups Gary Park Petroleum News Calgary Correspondent
Northwest Territories Premier Stephen Kakfwi lashed out at diamond giant De Beers and paid a heavy price.
In New York to promote the territories’ natural resource potential, he told reporters on Sept. 8 that De Beers is trafficking in “blood diamonds” from rebel groups to finance armed conflict and brutal repression, when, in fact, De Beers for three years has marketed only gems produced from its own mines.
Within three days, Kakfwi conceded his allegations were “inaccurate and should not have been made” by anyone in public office.
He said he had both retracted the comments in a meeting with De Beers and apologized — an offer that was accepted by De Beers Canada President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Molyneaux, despite his concern about the impact of Kakfwi’s remarks on the diamond industry as a whole.
More troubling was the potential fallout on informal talks that have been taking place to persuade diamond companies to cut and polish some of their gems in the territories rather than shipping them overseas to be finished. Work in territories key issue Kakfwi said that is the key issue being negotiated by the Northwest Territories and De Beers, which plans to open an underground mine at Snap Lake, 130 miles northeast of Yellowknife, in 2006. The property is believed to contain 41.1 million carats of diamonds.
He told the Toronto Globe and Mail’s editorial board that the discussions, aimed at keeping 10 percent of the gems in the Arctic for cutting and polishing, are “not just difficult ... they are very, very, very difficult negotiations.
“We have agreed we don’t understand each other,” he said. De Beers will only say the negotiations continue.
Kakfwi has been vigorously campaigning to gain Northwest Territories' government control over its natural resources, along with a share of the revenues they produce, especially now that the territories has two operating diamond mines and is on the verge of finally seeing natural gas development in the Mackenzie Delta-Beaufort Sea region which could produce C$53.2 billion in revenues over 30 years.
He had a private lunch with Canada’s Prime Minister Jean Chretien earlier this month to press his case that “everyone else is making money” at the expense of his residents who are “actually going broke.”
Currently all resource revenues from the Northwest Territories go to the Canadian government, which has jurisdiction over the territories’ resources.
Kakfwi said the territories’ case for autonomy is about more than money, it’s a “matter of dignity.”
| 