When BHP Diamonds announced the development of the Ekati mine in the Northwest Territories, it was more than a geological milestone. It was a moment that asked all of us in the Canadian mineral community a simple question: can we do this right?
 

I had the privilege of being involved, in a modest technical capacity, during the long process that led to the signing of the Environmental Impact Agreement on January 6, 1997, in Yellowknife. My role was limited to reviewing mineralogical annexes and verifying technical data, but it gave me a front-row seat to something remarkable.
 

What struck me most was not the kimberlite. Geologists had known for years that the pipes beneath Lac de Gras held promise. What struck me was the table itself. Seated around it were representatives of the Dogrib, the Akaitcho, the Treaty 8 First Nations, the Metis, the Government of the Northwest Territories, Ottawa, and BHP. Every voice carried equal weight.
 

In the 1980s, that would not have happened in Canada. Not like this. The Ekati agreement was built on genuine consultation, not ceremony. The environmental protections written into the accord, including caribou migration corridors, water quality monitoring, and land reclamation obligations, were not afterthoughts.
They were conditions.I remember sitting through sessions where elders spoke about the caribou trails their families had followed for generations. Engineers listened. Not politely. They listened because the agreement required it, and because the people in that room understood that a mine means nothing if the land it sits on is diminished.
 

The kimberlite at Ekati is rich. The diamonds are real. But a rich pipe guarantees nothing on its own. Nature does what it wants, not what we write in our projections. What matters is how we behave when the projections are good, whether we rush or whether we proceed with the care the land demands.

Canada chose care.

The Ekati agreement is not perfect. No agreement ever is. But it set a standard. It proved that a major mining project on Indigenous land could begin with respect rather than retrofit it later.
 

As gemologists, we spend our careers studying what comes out of the earth. We grade clarity, we measure colour, we certify origin. But we do not often enough ask how that stone was brought to light. Ekati gives us an answer we can be proud of.

The first commercial diamonds from the Canadian North will reach the market this year. They will be clean stones, in every sense of the word.
That matters. It should matter to every gemologist, every dealer, and every collector who reads this magazine.
 

I left Yellowknife with a deep respect for the people who built this agreement, all of them. I hope this mine becomes a model, not an exception.

Pierre Lafrance, GG Laboratoire Gem Quebec Laval, Quebec

The Canadian Lapidary, 1998

 

Read the full article: Internet Archive