For immediate release
July 11, 2006
MEDIA RELEASE
DE BEERS CANADA ISSUES SNAP LAKE SOCIO-ECONOMIC REPORT FOR 2005
Yellowknife, NT – July 11, 2006 – De Beers Canada Inc. has released its 2005 Snap Lake Socio-Economic Report required as part of the Socio-Economic Agreement (SEA) with the Government of the Northwest Territories. The Annual Report summarizes the initiatives taken by De Beers Canada in 2005 for the Construction Phase of the Snap Lake Project.
Despite an ever tightening labour market, De Beers and its contractors reached an average of 41% NWT resident employment during 2005, just exceeding the target of 40%, as outlined in the Socio-Economic Agreement. De Beers and its contractors hired 333 workers during May to December of 2005. In total, NWT residents comprised 44% of the new hires, while 25% of new hires were of Aboriginal descent.
“We’ve established Aboriginal employees as the highest hiring priority and we are seeing results,” said Chantal Lavoie, Vice President for NWT Projects. “Aboriginal employees made up 17% of the total workforce in 2005, and filled 13% of the management, professional and skilled jobs.
De Beers encourages the employment of women especially in management and professional and skilled positions. De Beers and its contractors provided an average of 41 positions to women. In total, 18% of the Snap Lake workforce were women and over 75% of the women employed were in management, professional or skilled occupations.
“Throughout 2005, significant effort was made by De Beers to ensure the involvement by NWT and Aboriginal businesses in the contracting and procurement processes,” said Chantal Lavoie, Vice President of NWT Projects. “These efforts resulted in the company exceeding the 35% NWT purchase target for construction expenditures in 2005. NWT and Aboriginal businesses continue to play an important part in our project’s success.”
As of December 15, 2005 De Beers had purchased $144,992,230 in goods and services associated with the construction of Snap Lake. Of that expenditure, $84,080,865 (58%) was spent with the NWT business community, and of that NWT Expenditure, $62,370,164 (74%) was purchased with Aboriginal businesses.
One of the ways that De Beers makes lasting contributions is through donations and in-kind support for events, initiatives and activities. In 2005, just over $350,000 was spent in the NWT by De Beers on social investment opportunities that improved quality of community life, contributed to capacity building and that developed skills. 59% of that expenditure was on skills development, 21% on literacy and education, 16% on community initiatives and 4% on industry related initiatives.
The full report is available on De Beers Canada’s website at www.debeerscanada.com and can be picked up at the NWT/Nunavut Chamber of Mines office in Yellowknife.
The Snap Lake Project is located 220 kilometers northeast of Yellowknife and will be the first diamond mine in Canada for De Beers. The Snap Lake Mine will provide employment for 500 during operations and will produce 1.5 million carats per year when in full production. The mine will commence production in October 2007.
For further information, visit www.debeerscanada.com.
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