The Story of Canadian Diamonds

In the late '70s and early '80s, a very important discovery was made by geologists prospecting for gold in Canada's Northwest Territories: G10 red garnets - also known as pyrope garnets - and green chrome diopside. These gemstones are not in themselves valuable enough to warrant the expense of building a mine on the Arctic tundra, or even the cost of further exploration. But where there are G10 garnets, there are mineral rock formations called kimberlites. And where there are kimberlites, there are diamonds.

Since then, more than $1-billion has been poured into diamond exploration in Canada's north, and millions of hectares of land have been staked by a barrage of enterprising prospectors ranging from major exploration companies to one-man operations. One of these intrepid explorers was a Canadian geologist named Charles (Chuck) Fipke who, with various partners and financial backers, began looking for diamonds in the early 1980s.

His task seemed simple. The garnets and chrome diopside, known as indicator minerals, had been carried away from their kimberlite hosts by glaciers over a million years of erosion. His job would be to trace them back to their source. But it proved to be anything but easy. Chuck and his team spent years gathering rock samples in the frigid rivers and eskers of the north, sleeping in tents pitched on the open tundra, subsisting on canned foods and trudging long distances across the barren terrain. The trail of G10s seemed to lead in hundreds of directions at once - great fields of ice 3,000 metres thick once covered Canada's north cutting deeply into the rock and smearing fragments out over the tundra, hundreds of kilometres from their source. Several frustrating years into the great diamond hunt, Chuck and his team had only succeeded in narrowing down the location of their prize to within an area of 520,000 square kilometres.

Finally, after years of poring over glacial maps, tracing the direction of ice flows and sampling thousands of miles of tundra, the team's findings led them to a body of rock considerably further east In the Mackenzie River Valley, where exploration had begun. In 1985, the trail of indicator minerals intensified, and then abruptly ended, about 320 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife in the region of Lac de Gras. Flying over a lake one day, Chuck marvelled at how round and deep it was, much like a kimberlite crater. Further testing revealed it to be exactly that. Nearby was another, and another. The search was over.

Today, his discovery is a full-scale mine. Ekati, as it is called, produces four-million carats a year-worth $600-million - of some of the world's finest diamonds. It is projected to generate more than $10-billion worth of diamonds over the next 17 years. Of the 60 major producers worldwide that are mining diamonds today, Ekati is the fourth-largest. And Ekati is only the beginning. A second mine, 30 kilometers away, is under construction and a third is undergoing a rigorous environmental review process. By 2005, Canada will be producing about 15% of the world's diamonds, valued at more than $1 billion per year.

What's so special about Canadian Diamonds?

Canadian diamonds are uniquely beautiful, rivalling the quality of most other diamonds in the world. But the best thing about them is that they're pure Canadian. Of Ekati's 600 employees, 80% are Northerners and 40% are First Nations. The diamonds are mined, sorted, marketed, manufactured and sold in the country of origin, where they are made available to Canadic consumers. This alone is unprecedented in the diamond world, Most diamonds embark on a trip around the world before reaching jewellery stores.

The majority of the rest of the world's diamonds are mined South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Australia and Russia, frol where they are sent to London, England, and sorted accordind to type and quality into 14,000 categories. They are the repackaged in tailor-made assortments and sold through DeBeers' Diamond Trading Company to diamond brokers around the world. From there, the parcels of diamonds are sorted again and sold to wholesalers and dealers in cutting centres, primarily in Antwerp, Israel and India, from where they are dispersed through various dealers and, finally, to the retail shops of th world. By the time it reaches a store, it is almost impossible to know where a diamond originated.

Canadian Diamonds by Columbia are an exception to this tradition. Instead of travelling this complex route, they remain in Canada, where they were created millions of year ago. The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) saw an opportunity in the early stages of Canada's diamond mining industry to do two things: create employment and , business opportunities for Northemers; and ensure .that Canadian consumers would have access to diamonds mined in their own country. Earning the right to do that took a determined effort. Eventually, producers in Canada were persuaded to hold back a portion of rough diamonds to feed the fledgling diamond cutting industry here in Canada.

The result has meant meaningful employment opportunities for First Nations people in the region. Northemers are undergoing training programs led by master diamond cutters from abroad in sawing, lasering and polishing diamonds, skills that will virtually change their lives.

In order to verify and authenticate the Canadian origin of these diamonds, the GNWT has imposed the world's first stringent, government-monitored certification and auditing program. Each individual diamond is identified and tracked using a Canadian technology known as Gemprint, a process that captures an optical imprint for each stone. It works because no two diamonds are exactly alike. A serial number, which serves as the stone's unique DNA code, is laser-engraved on the girdle (the outer rim, where it cannot be detected without magnification and where it does not interfere with the diamond's beauty). Two certificates carry the diamond's ID number: One from the government of the Northwest Territories, authenticating its country of origin; and the other outlining the diamond's quality characteristics.

Canadian Diamonds by Columbia are mined according to the most stringent environmental standards. The mining community around the world, in fact, has expressed incredulity at the extent to which the diamond producers in Canada's north are committed to respecting the regional ecosystem.

Canadian Diamonds by COLUMBIA

You can wear a Canadian Diamond by Columbia with pride. Knowing that they are among the most beautiful in the world. As diamonds of top clarity and colour -the two "C's" that cannot be altered -they warrant the cost of the extra time and expertise it takes to cut them to ideal proportions. The result is a more valuable diamond and a gemstone that releases more light. Fewer than 1 % of the world's diamonds are cut to these exacting proportions. Until now, in fact, few jewellers in Canada had access to diamonds of this quality. Given the number of middlemen involved those who did were forced to price them at a premium.

We are proud to make available to Canadians some of the finest diamonds in the world, grown right here in Canada. These unique Canadian gems are available through a handful of select retailers across the country. Wear them with pride.

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