Monday, March 05, 2007

Canadian diamonds

Interesting article in the WaPo today about northern Canada's latest mineral stampede, this time for diamonds.

The Far North, it turns out, is a treasure-house of South African proportions, and maybe even bigger than that. Gold and oil are old news above the Arctic Circle, and now you can add the world's third largest deposit of diamonds to the list.

I do find it interesting that the environmentalists aren't going bananas about the enormous open-pit mines used to dig out the gemstones. I guess Lac du Gras is not as environmentally sensitive as the North Slope of Alaska.

Anyway, it's interesting to me that the Canadians are cashing in on their conflict-free diamonds. Regardless of your opinion of the diamond trade, it's sorta refreshing to see a country that doesn't violently hate the US reaping some natural resource rewards.

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