| FJ: Let's start with your experience studying the | | | | Any sense of this? |
| impact of diamond mining in Canada. What exactly | | | | KP: I lived in Yellowknife for 15 years in the 1980s |
| was the scope of your work around the diamond | | | | and 1990s, leaving just as the Ekati mine, Canada's |
| mines and who employed you? | | | | first diamond mine, was being constructed. |
| KP: I have been involved in environmental monitoring | | | | Situated where it is, and depending heavily on |
| and assessment of diamond mines in the NWT for | | | | resource extraction (the town was built on two gold |
| about 5 years, designing, assessing and reviewing | | | | mines), |
| wildlife programs. | | | | Yellowknife has always had a frontier/boomtown |
| I have come at this from the perspective of an | | | | flavor. The diamond mines have definitely intensified |
| independent consultant designing and reviewing | | | | this milieu. |
| monitoring wildlife programs, and more recently as a | | | | FJ: Diamond mining is expanding in the region. What |
| member of the Independent Environmental Monitoring | | | | do you view as the critical, ongoing environmental |
| Agency, a public watchdog for environmental | | | | risks as mining expends? |
| monitoring of BHP Billiton's Ekati diamond mine. | | | | KP: The main risk is to ensure that the cumulative |
| FJ: Who owns the land that the mines are on and | | | | impacts of all human activity do not adversely affect |
| how are these mines impacting the environment and | | | | the environment, specifically wildlife. |
| wildlife? | | | | Any one mine on its own may produce relatively |
| KP: I am not certain, but I believe most of the mines | | | | minor, localized impacts, but in concert with all other |
| are Crown land owned by the Federal government. | | | | activity, all these sources of development (mining |
| Mines of this nature have an impact on the | | | | developments, communities, camps, lodges, etc.) may |
| environment and wildlife at some scale. | | | | exceed some threshold that could cause negative |
| The Ekati mine, for example, currently has a 20 km2 | | | | impacts. |
| footprint. This leads to local displacement of small | | | | Some wildlife in the north have huge annual ranges |
| mammals and birds and impacts to the vegetation. | | | | that have the potential to interact with sources of |
| At a larger scale these NWT diamond mines have | | | | disturbance across a broad area. |
| made great efforts to minimize and mitigate potential | | | | FJ: In your opinion, are all mines the same in terms of |
| impacts to the environment. | | | | impact on the environment, or are some better |
| Some changes to the aquatic and terrestrial systems | | | | managed than others? What I'm trying to understand |
| have occurred, but these are minimized and | | | | is whether or not a particular site has a more |
| contained to the greatest degree possible. | | | | onerous reputation than other sites. |
| Thus, while there are still potential impacts that are | | | | KP: In this day and age, I suggest all mines in the |
| currently being addressed and uncertainties in the | | | | North have environmental standards that are far |
| system that require further monitoring, on the whole | | | | superior to those which occurred in the past. There |
| these mines operate in an environmentally sound | | | | are a multitude of regulatory requirements, licenses, |
| manner. | | | | and permits that are required to construct and |
| FJ: Can you have a sense of how this economic | | | | operate a mine, and a host of regulatory agencies |
| development is affecting the Native communities, for | | | | that monitor this process. |
| better or worse? | | | | That said, each company has a subtly different |
| KP: Socio-economic impacts are not my specialty, but | | | | approach to the process, which means that some |
| these mines appear to have produced well-paying, | | | | are indeed easier to work with and better managed |
| long-term training and employment for Aboriginal | | | | than other. |
| peoples in communities scattered across the north. | | | | FJ: Would you recommend a Canadian diamond to |
| In areas where opportunities for economic | | | | your environmentally activists friends? |
| advancement are limited, I believe this has tended to | | | | KP: If a diamond is in someone's plans, yes, without |
| smooth the boom and bust cycle of resource | | | | hesitation. |
| development that has occurred in the past in some | | | | FJ: Anything else that you'd like to ad? |
| areas. | | | | KP: Readers may wish to visit the IEMA website for |
| This obviously has had an impact on the traditional | | | | updates on our review of the environmental program |
| Aboriginal lifestyle practiced by most Northerners until | | | | at Ekati. |
| recently. | | | | Similar websites are available for the other 2 |
| FJ: I've heard from others that Yellowknife is a | | | | operations diamond mines in the NWT. |
| boomtown which brings on a whole set of problems. | | | | |