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Canada is now a major player in the international diamond scene. Not only is Canada rich in diamonds, it is rich in high quality diamonds! In addition to certification, each diamond is microscopically laser inscribed with a unique identification number. The excitement began in 1991 when brilliant precious stones of pure carbon were discovered at Point Lake near Lac de Gras in the Northwest Territories.
Since then two diamond mines have begun production: EKATI and Diavik, both in the Northwest Territories. A third mine, the Jericho project, just north of EKATI in Nunavut, is in production in 2005. The Snap Lake pro-ject, also in the Northwest Territories began production in 2006.
The supply of Canadian diamonds is not expected to diminish any time soon. Ekati, Diavik, Jericho and Snap Lake are expected to keep produ-cing the best diamonds in the world for the next 10 to 20 years.
Canadian diamonds not only are clean, as in not being "dirty diamonds" or "blood diamonds," they are actually rather wholesome-looking, each etched with a speck of polar bear as a trademark.

Since 1991, over 300 kimberlite (the host rock of diamond) pipes have been discovered in Northwest Territories Only a handful, however, will contain the number of gem-quality diamonds required to justify the construction of a mine.

A drill core or core sample is a cylindrical piece of rock - typically about only one inch in diameter - brought to the surface by diamond drilling.

The 1.75-carat diamond that geologists found embedded in a drill core during exploration at Lac de Gras is known as the Aber Diamond.

Diamonds are not always clear and colourless. Others, called fancy dia-monds, are yellow, orange, pink, blue, brown, green or red in colour.

Between $800 million to $1 billion has been spent on diamond exploration in Canada in the past decade.

Diamond mining at Ekati and Diavik involves no hazardous chemicals and produces no toxic pollutants.

The certificate of authenticity that accompanies most diamonds that are mined, cut and polished in the NWT includes a gemprint. Like a finger-print, the gemprint is an electronic signature; unique to each diamond it can identify a stone.

The first Northern diamonds discovered by geologist Charles Fipke in 1991 led the way to the development of North Americas first diamond mine. In the fall of 1999, they were donated to the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife.

A great temperature for the ice road is around minus -28. Good and cold, but not so cold it looses its elasticity. The road is privately maintained and services three diamond projects and one gold mine to the North. During its busiest year in 2003 more than 8,000 loads travelled down along its length.

The average season for the Tibbitt-to-Contwoyto road is 70 days, from early February to mid-April. Crews of more than 100 people work on mainten-ance through the season, continuously grading and flooding the road to keep it thick and smooth. Driving on it actually helps build ice. Clear of insulating snow, the ice that makes up the road is thicker than the ice of the lake that surrounds it. At the northern sections it can be more than 70 centimetres thick.

Huge trucks haul loads as big as 63,000 kilograms. Long loads spread the weight out and trucks travel with buddies two trucks several truck-lengths apart who maintain radio and visual contact. Trucks travel no faster than 25 kilometres per hour to minimize the wave that forms on the underside of the ice ahead of the truck. This wave can explode upwards through the ice at portages places where the ice road cuts across an island.

All drivers carry sunglasses, sometimes several pairs. When the sun is out, its blinding. When its overcast the road appears deceptively feature-less. Some drivers favour pink sunglasses and others say that yellow is best for adding dimension to an ice- and snow-scape.