Premier Pat Binns of Prince Edward Island and Premier Stephen Kakfwi of the Northwest Territories hosted a diamond cutting exhibition this afternoon at Nortons Jewellers in the Confederation Court Mall in downtown Charlottetown.
The event featured the cutting of diamonds by Arslanian Cutting Works of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. The diamonds are from the Ekati™ Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories. Arslanian Cutting Works will be donating a polished diamond for auction at the reception for the Annual Premiers' Conference held at Crowbush Cove in support of Anderson House, a provincial emergency shelter for women and children.
Anderson House is a safe and supportive shelter for women and their children who have been physically or emotionally abused or who live in constant fear of abuse. Anderson House is staffed at all times by trained women who honour confidentiality.
"We are pleased to be a part of this event with Premier Kakfwi and the delegation from the Northwest Territories," said Premier Binns. "This event is a unique opportunity to showcase an important natural resource in the Northwest Territories. As Premiers, it is our duty to seek and promote new opportunities for industry and this event will bring positive attention to the diamond industry in Canada."
"The Northwest Territories experience has proven that Canadians can play a significant role in the international diamond industry not only producing rough diamonds, but cutting, polishing, manufacturing and marketing diamonds as well," said Premier Kakfwi.
"By working together to develop a national diamond strategy, we can take advantage of the NWT's knowledge and experience to ensure benefits from this emerging new industry flow to all Canadians."
The diamond will be cut by Mr. Curt Snider, a diamond cutter from the Northwest Territories. Mr. Snider has been in the diamond cutting business for 3 years and was recently a finalist at the Skills Canada Competition. The diamond cutting industry in Canada is small, but it is growing. The industry is mainly located in the Northwest Territories, Quebec and British Columbia.
Diamond mining in Canada currently employs 1,300 people. Production for 2003 is expected to total 9 million carats of gem-quality rough diamonds, increasing to over 10 million carats annually in subsequent years. This is equivalent to 12 per cent of current world diamond production by value.
The newest diamond mine, Diavik in the Northwest Territories, started production in January of this year. A third diamond mine, owned by DeBeers, is expected to be in operation in 2007. These mines will employ up to 1,800 people and raise Canada's annual production of rough diamonds to 15 per cent of the world's production by value, approximately $1.5 billion.
The search for diamonds has expanded outside of the Northwest Territories, with advanced exploration projects in Nunavut, Saskatchewan and Ontario, and exciting discoveries in Quebec, Alberta and Manitoba.