DEF Debuts Scholarships for Canadian Industry

RAPAPORT... The Diamond Empowerment Fund (DEF) has launched its firsteducational grants for young people in Canada's Northwest Territories (NWT). "Creating education and employment opportunities for youthwho live in areas where natural diamonds are found is at the heart of the DEF'smission," Anna Martin, DEF president and senior vice president of the GIA, saidlast week. The scholarships are the result of a collaboration betweenthe DEF, the Mine Training Society and the government of the NWT. The MineTraining Society - a cooperation established by the region's indigenousgovernments, the public government and the mining industry -helps indigenous NWT residents find long-term employment in the miningindustry. "The government of the NWT is committed to ensuring benefitsfrom major diamond development projects flow to NWT residents -their businesses and their governments," said Wally Schumann, minister ofindustry, tourism and investment for the NWT. "[This program] will helpnorthern youth gain the skills they need to succeed at the mine site andbeyond." NWT is home to three diamond mines: Dominion Diamond Mines'Ekati deposit; the Diavik mine, owned in partnership by Dominion and Rio Tinto;and Gahcho Ku?(C), a joint venture between De Beers and Mountain Province. Image: Left to right: Winter Bailey of the Mine Training Society, Nancy Orem Lyman of the Diamond Empowerment Fund, and Minister Wally Schumann of the government of the Northwest Territories. (Diamond Empowerment Fund)