N.W.T. gov’t loosening rules in hopes of wooing Northern diamond manufacturers (CBC News Canada North – December 6, 2018)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/

2 companies are approved N.W.T. diamond manufacturers; neither of them take advantage of this distinction

In an effort to breathe life into the N.W.T.’s dormant diamond manufacturing industry, the territorial government will allow diamond polishers that set up shop in the territory to export a share of their diamonds south for manufacturing.

This offer comes in exchange with other investments in the Northwest Territories. The Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment made the announcement Thursday afternoon. As it stands right now, the Northwest Territories has been trying to cultivate a diamond polishing industry in the Northwest Territories for 19 years, with little to no success.

The previous rules required approved Northwest Territories diamond manufacturers to cut and polish 100 per cent of their N.W.T. diamonds in the territory. These companies had first dibs on 10 per cent of the diamonds produced in the territory — a value of $150 million US annually.

Right now, two companies are approved to manufacture N.W.T. diamonds — Almod and Crossworks. Neither are manufacturing rough diamonds made available to them from N.W.T. mines.

The government believes this is because the territory is the the most expensive jurisdiction in the world to manufacture diamonds. For example, it costs about $300 per carat to manufacture diamonds in the N.W.T., while that price falls as low as $80 per carat in a country like Namibia.

For the rest of this article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/diamond-manufacturing-export-allowances-1.4935706