snap lake socio-economic report/media/files/d/de... · 2018. 4. 19. · snap lake socio-economic...

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Snap Lake Socio-Economic Report

Snap Lake Socio-Economic Report

18As part of our commitment to the Northwest Territories, the Snap Lake Mine annually reports on a specific number of performance areas in addition to the materials found in our Report to Society. This information highlights involvement of NWT businesses, communities and individuals working directly or indirectly for the De Beers Canada Snap Lake Mine.

The following charts, tables and information capture this information for the 2011 year. In most instances, figures follow the De Beers annual reporting cycle that ends on December 15th each year. In other cases, figures reflect information captured by contractors, communities or other sources from January 1 - December 31. To ensure clarity regarding figures reported, please refer to the reporting period listed for each chart or table.

Legend:

Total Expenditure

NWT Portion

Aboriginal portion of NWT Expenditure

0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0

Total Snap Lake Expenditures to date,as of December 31, 2011 ($billions)

50 100 150 200

2011 Snap Lake Expenditures ($millions)

$1.88 billionOperating and Capital Expenditure to December 2011

»

$161 millionOperating and Capital expenditure in 2011

»

In 2011, the majority of the $3,267,380.32 spent on social investment initiatives in the Northwest Territories was focused on training, education and youth. The remainder was divided between arts & culture, community development initiatives, sports, health, environment and other areas.

It was also a highly successful year for our two major charitable endeavours: the De Beers Charity Classic Golf Tournament in Hay River and the Diamond to Diamond Head Raffle collectively raised about $110,000. This includes a record $50,919 raised at the Charity Classic for the Hay River Hospital Foundation and Hay River Junior Golf and $60,000 from the raffle.

The Hay River Hospital Foundation’s share of the Charity Classic total, $47,784, helped the Foundation accomplish its Stand Up, Sit Down, Look All Around campaign, and the new equipment was ready for use at medical facilities in Hay River by the fall. The golf tournament receives tremendous support from De Beers’ business partners who chip in with donations to the Foundation and contribution of silent auction items. In addition this year, Snap Lake Mine employees took part in a putting contest fundraiser at the mine site – which, when combined with proceeds from our Diamond Shootout at the Tournament, helped raise $9,700.

One of our largest single NWT donations in 2011 went to help Sir John Franklin High School in Yellowknife purchase a new tire changer for its auto shop, to replace a 20-year-old piece of equipment. The new tire changer was valued at approximately $15,000.

Among the groups and organizations receiving funding in 2011, we were proud to be able to help the following:

• YWCA• YKDFN Chekoa Program• William McDonald Middle School• Come Make Your Mark Campaign (GNWT)• Arctic Ungulate Conference• Yellowknife Choral Society• Community Government of Whati• Hamlet of Fort Resolution• Aboriginal Sport Circle of the NWT• Reliance Spiritual Gathering (Lutsel K’e)• NWT Special Olympics• Tree of Peace Friendship Centre• Tlicho Government National Addictions

Awareness Week• Yellowknife Scouting Group• Ducks Unlimited• Inuvik Homeless Shelter• Skills Canada• Northern Student Education Initiative

Literacy DevelopmentBooks in Homes remains our largest single literacy initiative in the Northwest Territories and in April and May 2011, our “flying bookstore” hit the skies for the ninth straight year. Our team distributed three books each to students attending schools in Behchoko, Gameti, Whati, Wekweeti, Dettah, Ndilo, Lutsel K’e and Fort Resolution.

Altogether 3,177 books were distributed, all purchased by De Beers locally, through the Yellowknife Book Cellar. Expenses for the 2011 Books in Homes program in 2011 totalled a little over $72,000.

A variety of De Beers personnel from our Yellowknife office and the Snap Lake Mine took part, including

members of the External & Corporate Affairs team, as well as the Safety, Health & Environment, Human Resources, and Training Departments. For the second time, representatives from the NWT Government’s Student Financial Assistance Program traveled with De Beers Canada into communities to meet with students and community residents to provide information on financial support for post-secondary education.

Support for the NWT Literacy Council included a financial contribution to support community activities and use of our Yellowknife office board room for a week-long family literacy training workshop, and flying Council employees into a number of communities for family literacy events.

Our partnership with NorthWords NWT (formerly the NorthWords Writers Festival), was formally extended with the signing of a three-year partnership agreement in early 2011. De Beers’ Gala Reading, held during the NorthWords festival in early June 2011, featured a standing-room only crowd on hand to hear “Bones” author Kathy Reichs.

We also agreed to provide $20,000 to NorthWords to publish an anthology of NWT writing. Nearly 100 submissions had been received by the December deadline and the anthology is on track for release late in 2012. The anthology grew out NorthWords’ vision of building an NWT literary culture by supporting the work of NWT writers and De Beers Canada’s commitment to literacy development in the Northwest Territories.

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Snap Lake Socio-Economic ReportSocial Investment

Support for CultureThe communities close to the Snap Lake Mine have rich cultural heritage. Aboriginal residents continue to speak their language, participate in traditional games and maintain close ties to the land. We are proud to support these endeavours in the communities and at the mine site.

The cultural centre at Snap Lake Mine continued to host classes in 2011, including a popular December jewelry making workshop featuring Yellowknife artisan Roger Bissons. More than two dozen employees took part. A carving workshop featuring Sonny MacDonald was also to be held in late 2011, but had to be postponed until early January 2012.

The annual Snap Lake Mine Fish Tasting took place on September 8, with elders from communities close by taking part. It was a beautiful sunny day, and the event was attended by De Beers Canada CEO Tony Guthrie, Chief Financial Officer Steve Thomas, and many members of the Snap Lake Mine senior management team.

Altogether in 2011, we provided $76,000 in financial support to arts, culture and heritage activities in the Northwest Territories.

Among the events receiving support during the year were:

Northern Arts and Cultural Centre – Annual contribution to support NACC’s annual program.

Folk on the Rocks – Sponsorship of the Cultural Stage at the annual Yellowknife music festival. We also sponsored radio broadcasts supporting the event and provided four family ticket prize packages for community wide contests run by CJCD and CKLB radio.

Youth and Men’s Hand Games in Behchoko – This annual event featured dozens of teams from around the Northwest Territories. Funding was also provided to support hand games tournaments in Lutsel K’e and in Dettah.

Community Carnivals/Events – Funding was provided to several communities to support spring carnivals, feasts, community gatherings and other events in several communities, including Lutsel K’e, Fort Resolution, Dettah, Gameti, Wekweeti, Behchoko and Fort Good Hope.

Aurora Chorealis Christmas Concert – De Beers Canada was the title sponsor of the annual Christmas Concert held by the Yellowknife Choral Society.

“Hey Good Looking, It’s Northern Cooking!” – Funding was provided to help the Yellowknives Dene First Nation publish 300 copies of this community cookbook. Recipes were supplied by community residents. It was launched during the annual Yellowknife Geoscience Forum and quickly sold out.

2011 NWT Social Investment

Health $ 58,330

Education & Youth (Literacy) $ 2,971,478

Environment $ 11,613

General Community Development $ 46,017

Arts, Culture & Heritage $ 76,095

Sports $ 11,919

Other $ 28,709

At the YWCA’s Rockhill Apartment in Yellowknife, we committed $10,000 for each of 2011 and 2012 to augment contributions from the GNWT Energy Conservation Department for a series of energy upgrades, including low flow toilets, taps and shower heads, front-load washing machines, compact fluorescent lights, and programmable thermostats, among others. This contributed to burning 11,030 fewer litres of oil in 2011 when compared to 2010.

Supporting Women in Need 20

Snap Lake Socio-Economic ReportSocial Investment

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Snap Lake Socio-Economic ReportEmployment

The 2011 mining campaign saw small gains in overall employment at our Snap Lake Mine. Production at the mine began ramping up in 2010 after the 2008-09 recession and continued into January 2011. Throughout the year, employment fluctuated between 620 and 720 full-time equivalent workers. This variation is the result of seasonal changes in production and from the general movement of labour to and from the mine. By years end the average monthly employment stood at 678 FTE workers, while the number of people employed on December 31, 2011 equaled 806.

NWT resident labour grew by 20 person-years of employment in 2011. This still represents a lower participation rate than what we believed we could achieve during the environmental assessment of the Snap Lake Mine1. Local recruitment efforts have been steady, but hampered by a need for skill sets not readily available in the Northwest Territories,

and efforts to attract mine workers to relocate to the Northwest Territories have not had much effect. These efforts are being hindered by a growing demand for mine workers across Canada and throughout the world. This is most evident by recruitment campaigns by some of the world’s largest mining companies that were targeting NWT mine employees throughout 2011. The latest migration data for the NWT shows residents leaving the territory in greater numbers than migrants moving here. In the four years since the Snap Lake Mine opened, a total of 2,062 residents (on net) have left the Northwest Territories.3

Despite the concerns over out-migration and the need for a more skilled labour force, we remain committed to living up to employment commitments.4 We will continue our efforts to find and develop new labour from within the NWT and to encourage mine workers to relocate to the territory.

Monthly Employment (shown in person years at annual rates2)

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

55

0 57

5 60

0 62

5 65

0 67

5 70

0 72

5

per

son

year

s of

em

plo

ymen

t

1 See Section 3.4.2 in the Snap Lake Socio-Economic Agreement2 Monthly employment at annualized rates is simply the number

of person-years of employment recorded in a month reported as if that level of employment were maintained for an entire year.

3 Interprovincial migration data from January 2008 to October 2011.4 In 2011, it was expected that over a full year, an employee

would work 13 cycles of 14 days where one day equals a 12-hour shift. This represents 2,184 hours per year. Estimating the number of jobs in terms of person years requires summing the total number of hours worked by all employees and dividing that number by 2,184. A person year of employment is also referred to as one full-time equivalent job.

Employment by Hiring PriorityTable 1 presents employment in person-years3 by hiring priority from 2005 to 2011 for the Snap Lake Mine. This time period represents two distinct phases: construction from 2005-2007; and, operations starting in 2008. It’s important to remember that soon after the mine opened, the world plummeted into a crippling recession that resulted in production cutbacks, including a six-week shutdown in 2009. That year ended with an average monthly workforce 300 person-years below its peak in 2008. Since early 2010, we have worked to bring production at the mine to its planned capacity by carefully rebuilding the mine’s workforce and through the development of an optimization plan for the mine.

Employment totaled 678 person-years in 2011. This is a small increase from the 635 person-years of employment reported last year, but is still shy of its peak in 2008 when monthly operations employment averaged 728 person-years. Production is expected to remain on track throughout 2012 and employment to remain at levels similar to 2011.

The number of Aboriginal residents working at Snap Lake grew to 145 person-years in 2011, representing an increase of 22 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs. Non-Aboriginal NWT resident labour was virtually unchanged from 2010 with 104 person-years of employment in 2011 after accounting for 106 person-years of employment in 2010. The combined NWT resident employment equaled 249 person-years for the year, 20 higher than in 2010, and represented 37 per cent of the overall workforce.

An employment target of 300 person-years for NWT residents, equal to 60 per cent of the mine’s predicted workforce, was established for the Snap Lake Mine. Though the NWT resident workforce did

increase in 2011, so did the number of employees living elsewhere. We have found the growth in ready, willing, and able labour force in the NWT to be slow. Attempts to attract labour from communities outside the North and South Slave and Tlicho regions has had limited success despite travel incentives and northern allowances. Residents from these other communities contributed less than 14 person-years of employment to the mine last year. A significant challenge is the need for a highly skilled workforce at Snap Lake Mine. The operation is entirely underground, which necessitates more skilled operators than would an open-pit operation.

We have tried to address this with a two-pronged approach. The first is to work with training organizations like the NWT Mine Training Society and Aurora College. The second prong was to support the Come Make Your Mark advertising campaign by the Government of the Northwest Territories in 2010 and 2011, aimed to attract mine workers to the NWT.

Table 1: Employment by Hiring Priority, to the end of 2011

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Total Avg

person years

NWT Aboriginal 39 93 126 139 92 123 145 758 108

NWT resident 56 130 143 135 71 106 104 744 106

Subtotal NWT residents 95 223 269 274 163 229 249 1,502 215

Non NWT 137 614 875 454 269 406 429 3,183 455

Total 231 838 1,144 728 431 635 678 4,685 669

per cent of total

NWT Aboriginal 17 11 11 19 21 19 21 16 16

NWT resident 24 16 13 19 16 17 15 16 16

Subtotal NWT residents 41 27 24 38 38 36 37 32 32

Non NWT 59 73 76 62 62 64 63 68 68

Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100


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Note: Those that did not self identify in the survey are recorded as non-Aboriginal. NWT Aboriginal employees who were identified as residing outside the NWT are recorded as Non-NWT Aboriginal Residents in this table. Figures may not add up due to rounding error.

Table 2 provides information on the hiring record of De Beers and its contractors. In 2011, our employees totaled 415 person-years versus 263 person-years of employment provided by contractors. Not counting contractor employees, NWT residents represented 34 per cent of De Beers’ Snap Lake’s workforce, which was divided between Aboriginal (18%) and non-Aboriginal residents (16%). Another 39 person-years of employment came from Aboriginal labour residing outside the territory.5

The number of contractor employees working at the Snap Lake Mine is virtually unchanged from 2010. The NWT supplied 41 per cent of the 263 person-years of employment, a slight increase over 2010. Contractors employ a higher percentage of NWT Aboriginal labour than non-Aboriginal labour. The ratio in 2011 was almost 2 to 1 in favour of NWT Aboriginal residents.

Table 2: Employment by Hiring Priority, 2011

De Beers Contractor Total

person years

NWT Aboriginal 75 70 145

Other NWT residents 67 37 104

Subtotal NWT residents 142 107 249

Non-NWT Aboriginal 39 15 54

Other Non-NWT residents 234 141 375

Subtotal Non-NWT residents 273 156 429

Total 415 263 678

per cent of total

NWT Aboriginal 18 27 21

Other NWT resident 16 14 15

Subtotal NWT residents 34 41 37

Non-NWT Aboriginal 9 6 8

Non-NWT residents 57 54 55

Subtotal Non-NWT residents 66 59 63

Total 100 100 100

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5 The Employment Statistical Information (ESI) Form used to collect employee and contractor information on residency, heritage, gender and job category results in data which can require some explanation and interpretation. Aboriginal employees can record their status in one of three categories within the survey: Impact Benefit Agreement (IBA) Group, NWT Aboriginal or Other Aboriginal. “NWT Aboriginal” is defined in the survey as Any Indian, Inuit or Metis individual who originated in the NWT or is a descendant of an Aboriginal person originating in the NWT. De Beers assumes that this will capture every employee who represents any other Aboriginal community in the NWT regardless of their residency. De Beers assumes that “Other Aboriginal” captures all other Aboriginal people. Finally, it is important to note that someone who identifies themselves as part of an IBA group or another NWT Aboriginal group may not always reside in the NWT. Heritage and residency are mutually exclusive. Those who self identify as a member of the North Slave Métis Alliance, Yellowknives Dene First Nation, Lutsel K’e and Kache Dene First Nation or Tlicho Nation and that also indicate they live outside of the NWT are still considered by De Beers to be within the first hiring priority. This is in accordance with terms within Impact Benefit Agreements, which supersede the hiring priorities of the Socio Economic Agreement. Also, a number of individuals choose not to self-identify themselves by their heritage or location. These individuals are recorded as non-Aboriginal, non-NWT residents.

NWT Residents37%»

Non-NWT Residents

63%»


24Employment by Hiring Priority and Job ClassificationTable 3a and 3b contains employment results by hiring priority and job classification. The trends in these data highlight the challenge we have faced in attracting and retaining employees in the higher skilled positions. The highest paying positions at the mine are jobs classified as management, professional, or skilled. Ten of the 18 management positions, 11 of the 33 professional positions, and 64 of the 258 skilled positions were filled by NWT residents—representing 56 per cent, 32 per cent, and 25 per cent of those jobs respectively. This is an improvement in the management category in relative terms, but not for the professional and skilled categories.

During the year, 32 semi-skilled jobs were added at Snap Lake. NWT residents were unable to fill any of these positions. Unskilled positions show the opposite results. An additional 30 positions in this category, with all being filled by NWT labour —28 of which were filled by NWT Aboriginals. Increasing the number and percentage of resident managers, professionals and skilled employees and moving unskilled workers into semi-skilled positions through promotion and resident hires remains an important objective.

Table 3b (on the next page) highlights the number of Aboriginal employees working at the mine.

Table 3a: Employment by Hiring Priority and job Classification, 2011

NWT Aboriginal

Other NWT Residents

Subtotal NWT Residents

Non-NWT Residents

Grand Total

person years

Management 2 8 10 8 18

Professional 1 9 11 22 33

Skilled 23 41 64 194 258

Subtotal 26 58 85 224 309

Semi-Skilled 57 27 84 198 282

Unskilled 62 18 80 7 87

Subtotal 119 46 164 205 369

Total 145 104 249 429 678

per cent of total by job classification

Management 12 44 56 44 100


Skilled 9 16 25 75 100

Subtotal 9 19 27 73 100

Semi-Skilled 20 10 30 70 100

Unskilled 71 21 92 8 100

Subtotal 32 12 45 55 100

Total 21 15 37 63 100

per cent of total by hiring priority

Management 2 8 4 2 3


Skilled 16 39 26 45 38

Subtotal 18 56 34 52 46

Semi-skilled 39 26 34 46 42

Unskilled 43 18 32 2 13

Subtotal 82 44 66 48 54

Total 100 100 100 100 100


Table 3b: Employment by Hiring Priority and job Classification, 2011

NWT Aboriginal

Non-NWT Aboriginal

TotalAboriginal

Other NWT Residents

Other Non-NWT Residents

Grand Total

person years

Management 2 1 3 8 7 18

Professional 1 0 1 9 22 33

Skilled 23 13 36 41 181 258

Subtotal 26 14 40 58 210 309

Semi-Skilled 57 28 84 27 170 282

Unskilled 62 0 62 18 7 87

Subtotal 119 28 146 46 177 369

Total 145 42 187 104 387 678

per cent of total by job classification

Management 12 6 19 44 38 100


Skilled 9 5 14 16 70 100

Subtotal 9 5 13 19 68 100

Semi-Skilled 20 10 30 10 60 100

Unskilled 71 0 71 21 8 100

Subtotal 32 7 40 12 48 100

Total 21 6 28 15 57 100

per cent of total by hiring priority

Management 2 3 2 8 2 3


Skilled 16 31 19 39 47 38

Subtotal 18 34 22 56 54 46

Semi-skilled 39 66 45 26 44 42

Unskilled 43 0 33 18 2 13

Subtotal 82 66 78 44 46 54

Total 100 100 100 100 100 100


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26

50 100 150 200 250 300

Management

Professional

Skilled

Semi-skilled

Unskilled

Snap Lake Employment by Job Classification and Hiring Priority (Residency)

Legend:

NWT Residents

Non-NWT Residents

Employment by CommunityThe employment data by NWT community is presented in Table 4. This data is recorded as the number of person-years of employment and as the average number of active employees as of December 31, 2011.

De Beers gives preferential treatment to NWT residents when it comes to recruitment. The order of hiring priority was established in the Snap Lake Socio-Economic Agreement 6 as follows:

1. Members of Aboriginal Authorities, including• Lutsel K’e and Kache Dene First Nation;• North Slave Métis Alliance;• Tlicho Nation; and, • Yellowknives Dene First Nation.

2. Aboriginal people residing in the NWT;3. NWT residents who have been continuously

resident in the NWT for at least six months;4. All others residing in or relocating to the NWT;

and, 5. Others (non-NWT residents).

Throughout the year, residents from different NWT communities worked at the Snap Lake Mine. Most of these workers live in Yellowknife, accounting for 68 per cent of NWT workforce with 170 person-years of employment. The town of Hay River contributed 33 person-years (five more than last year), while Behchoko added another 18 person-years of employment. The communities presented in the table as other include Deline, Enterprise, Fort Good Hope, Fort McPherson, Fort Providence, Fort Resolution, Fort

Simpson, Jean Marie River, Norman Wells, and Tulita. These communities contributed 15 person-years of employment to the mine.

The latter two columns in the table show the number and percentage of active employees as of December 31, 2011. Table 4 shows a significant difference between the number of active employees (312) and person years of employment (249). The higher number reflects the increased staffing requirements associated with construction of the winter road as well as slight increase in the number of mine workers. The majority of the new employees reside in Yellowknife and Hay River.

6 See Section 3.2 in the Snap Lake Socio-Economic Agreement.

Table 4: Employment by NWT Community

Person Years% of Total

Employment# of Active Employees

% of Total Employment

Fort Smith 6 2 7 2

Hay River 33 13 44 14

Lutsel K’e 0 0 1 0

Behchoko 18 7 19 6

Gameti 2 1 2 1

Wekweeti 2 1 2 1

Wha Ti 3 1 5 2

Yellowknife 170 68 213 68

Other NWT 15 6 19 6

Total NWT 249 100 312 100

Note: figures may not add up due to rounding error.

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New Hires by ResidencyTable 5 presents the number of new hires by residency. The data in this table is not in person-years, but rather number of individuals hired. The figures representing contractor hiring will appear inflated or would otherwise suggest excessive turn-over. This is not the case, however. It is not uncommon for someone to accept a short-term position with a contractor (to help build the winter road, for example), then later in the same year, accept another term position with the same contractor or another one. Depending on the duration of their work term, which could be as short as two weeks (a single work rotation), it is possible for the same person to be entered into the system as a new hire multiple times each year. Technically, this does represent multiple hires, but also requires some caution when interpreting the data. This issue does not exist with De Beers’ employees. If an individual is hired twice in one year, they are entered into the system only once.

De Beers hired 133 new employees in 2011, 35 of whom were long-term NWT residents (having resided in the NWT for more than 6 months) and 13 of whom were recent arrivals (having lived in the NWT for less than six months). The majority (64%) of new employees were hired from outside the territory.

Mine contractors were much more active (bearing in mind the issue with over reporting) hiring 297 new employees throughout the year. Again, a majority (61%) of these new employees come from outside the NWT. Of the 115 new hires that do live in the territory, 63 are long-term residents.

As its biggest contractor (in terms of employment) Tli Cho Logistics was the most active recruiter amongst all contractors. It hired 71 new people over the course

of the year, the majority of whom (82%) were NWT residents. Bouwa Whee Catering Ltd. added 60 new hires to its payroll throughout the year, 45 of whom live in NWT. The split between long-term and short-term residents was close to 50/50.

Table 5: New Hires by Residency

>6 months < 6 months NWT Non-NWT Total

Number of New Employees

De Beers Canada 35 13 48 85 133

Contractors 63 52 115 182 297

Total 98 65 163 267 430

Per cent of Total

De Beers Canada 26 10 36 64 100

Contractors 21 18 39 61 100

Total NWT 23 15 38 62 100


28Employment by Gender and Job ClassificationDe Beers supports and encourages the participation of women in all aspects of work related to the Snap Lake Mine and encourages similar commitments from its contractors.7 Table 6 and Table 7 provide evidence of De Beers’ record in this area. There were 99 women employed at Snap Lake in 2011, equal to 15 per cent of the overall workforce. Women are best represented in unskilled positions, filling 45 per cent of jobs in that category. The second highest category is management, where women make up 15 per cent. Women are least represented in professional and skilled positions—11 per cent and eight per cent respectively.

Women working at the mine are most likely to be in unskilled or semi-skilled positions, categories which accounted for almost 74 of their 99 person-years of employment to these types of jobs.

Table 6: Employment by Job Classification and Gender

Men Women Total

person years per cent person years per cent person years per cent

Management 15 85 3 15 18 100


Skilled 239 92 19 8 258 100

Subtotal 283 92 26 8 309 100

Semi-Skilled 247 88 35 12 282 100

Unskilled 48 55 39 45 87 100

Subtotal 295 80 74 20 368 100

Grand Total 578 85 99 15 677 100

Note: figures may not add up due to rounding error.

Table 7: Employment by Job Classification for Women

Women

person years per cent

Management 3 3

Professional 4 4

Skilled 19 20

Subtotal 26 26

Semi-Skilled 35 35

Unskilled 39 39

Subtotal 74 74

Grand Total 99 100

Note: figures may not add up due to rounding error.7 See Section 4.10 in the Snap Lake Socio-Economic Agreement.

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Snap Lake Socio-Economic ReportTraining and Development

Since operations began in 2008 through the end of 2011, 66 trainees have been employed at the Snap Lake Mine, exceeding De Beers Canada’s commitment to fill 40 training positions during the first three years of operations.

To date, 36 of those trainees have graduated to regular positions at the mine, including three apprentices who completed their programs during 2011.

A highlight of the year occurred in February when several Snap Lake Mine apprentices, including three from mine catering contractor Bouwa Whee Catering, received high marks awards in a ceremony attended by celebrity home handyman Mike Holmes.

Two De Beers Canada apprentices competed in the Skills Canada Territorial Skills Competition and one, millwright Adrian Gherghe, won a silver medal in his event.

The year also saw introduction of Your Money Matters, an online program that teaches personal financial skills. The course was unveiled as part of our annual Books in Homes tour in April and May. It is available at Snap Lake Mine and through regional adult learning centre run by Aurora College in the Tlicho Communities, Dettah and Lutsel K’e. During 2011, the course was accessed 213 times.

At the fully staffed training centre at Snap Lake, 8,954 people attended 318 courses, for a total of 12,500 training hours. A total of 115 underground employees completed the basic Ontario Common Core training offered at the mine in 2011, representing 69% of total underground workers. All employees at Snap Lake Mine are required to take Cross-Cultural Awareness Training and during 2011, 124 employees completed the program.

In addition, De Beers Canada sponsored first aid for Yellowknives Dene First Nation members in Dettah, for Lutsel K’e Dene First Nation members in Lutsel K’e, and Tlicho citizens in Behchoko, Whati and Gameti.

No major recruitment campaigns took place during 2011. All available positions are advertised in NWT News/North, on the JobsNorth website and the De Beers Canada website. In addition, all positions are sent to employment officers in IBA communities.

De Beers Canada also works with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation and North Slave Metis Alliance to award annual scholarships, including $15,000 to YKDFN students, and $5,000 to NSMA students.An NWT-wide scholarship program is expected to be introduced during 2012.

Table 8: Employees in training

Trades Trainees Apprentices Underground

Commitment8 10 10 20

Trainees to Date 20 17 29

Program Graduates 14 4 18

Current Trainees 6 10 0

8 See Section 4.6.2 in the Snap Lake Socio-Economic Agreement

NWT businesses provide critical services to Snap Lake Mine

A small mine with a long life ahead, Snap Lake Mine depends on a small army of business contractors and their employees.

In 2011, more than 260 person years of employment were provided at Snap Lake by our contractors. They are responsible for running our accommodations, providing logistics support, underground development, operating the winter road, monitoring the environment, and supporting a detailed mine optimization planning process. They include First Nations business and joint ventures, Northwest Territories-based businesses and multi-national corporations . De Beers views its contractors as an important partner in developing NWT and Aboriginal business capacity. Since the diamond mining industry was established in the Northwest Territories, NWT and Aboriginal businesses have demonstrated their ability to successfully tender for contracts in a competitive process with other non-northern business suppliers. NWT and Aboriginal businesses are winning significant contracts to provide critical services to the Snap Lake Mine, including camp catering services, logistical support, site services and winter road support.

Major contractors supporting De Beers in 2011 include:

• Bouwa Whee Catering – Camp Services• Tlicho Logistics – Site Services/Logistics Support• Tlicho LandTran – Winter Road• Det’on Cho Logistics – Logistics• Manroc Developments – Underground mining• Team Drilling – Surface drill program

Because Snap Lake is only accessible by air for most of

the year, NWT-based aircraft businesses are essential to the mine’s operation.

In 2011, 374 flights carried approximately 13,000 passengers in and out of the mine, Yellowknife, Fort Smith/Hay River and Edmonton. Aircraft were provided by many companies, including First Air and Canadian North, Arctic Sunwest Charters, Summit Aviation, Air Tindi/Tlicho Air, and Northwestern Air Lease. Helicopter services to support the surface drilling program and environmental work were also hired from Trinity Helicopters and Great Slave Helicopters. De Beers provides travel allowances to NWT employees to travel to any of 11 pickup points in the Northwest Territories, which include: Yellowknife, Hay River, Fort Smith, Lutsel K’e, Behchoko, Whati, Wekweeti, Gameti, Fort Simpson, Norman Wells and Inuvik.

To let businesses know what opportunities are ahead in the coming year, each year we host an annual Business Opportunities Breakfast. In 2011, it was held on November 17th in conjunction with the annual Yellowknife Geoscience Forum. More than 60 business representatives attended the breakfast, learning

about our winter road plans for 2012, opportunities ahead at the Snap Lake Mine, and receiving an update on our proposed Gahcho Kué diamond project.

The breakfast is free to attend, and all attendees are encouraged to donate to a pre-selected charity of De Beers’ choice. In 2011 the Chekoa Program, a holistic, positive after-school wellness and educational program for youth and children of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation was chosen as recipient. Including a donation from De Beers, the program received $3,250 .

The year started with a successful winter road resupply that saw us race against the weather to deliver new process plant screens for a critical refit planned at the Snap Lake Mine – arriving on March 31, the final day the road was open.

Altogether, the 2011 winter road saw 33.1 million litres of fuel delivered, more than 11.3 million kilograms of freight transported to site, and 900,000 kilograms of freight hauled out. This was accomplished with no major incidents or spills.

Total Snap Lake Mine Expenditures to the end of 2011

Total Expenditures $ 1,879,314,722

NWT Portion $ 1,298,007,703 68.42% of total

Aboriginal Portion $ 756,009,969 58.21% of NWT expenditure

Snap Lake Mine 2011 Expenditures

Total for the Year $ 161,656,000

NWT Expenditure $ 110,120,000 68.12% of total

Aboriginal Portion $ 39,871,000 36.21% of NWT expenditure

30

Snap Lake Socio-Economic ReportBusiness Development

The health of our employees at Snap Lake Mine and the residents of communities close by are important to De Beers. To ensure a strong relationship between the company and Primary Communities, De Beers employed a Superintendent of Community Relations who is fluent in Chipewyan, and two Community Liaison Coordinators, one of whom speaks Tlicho.

The mine’s accommodation facility includes a cardio fitness centre with treadmills, elliptical trainers and other equipment, a weight room and contact fitness centre, and a yoga/pilates room. The physician’s assistants who staff Snap Lake’s Medical Centre are available 24 hours a day to provide medical care as needed. Heart-smart, healthy meal options are available in the accommodations complex dining room.

In addition, drug and alcohol awareness training is provided at the mine and counseling and family support services are provided through an Employee Assistance Program offered through Shepell-fgi. Telephones were installed in all dorm rooms in December 2011, to improve employees’ ability to connect with their families. Public telephones are also available in the accommodations building, as are public-use computers.

De Beers supported a number of community wellness initiatives, including raising $60,000 to help equip a new chemotherapy/IV treatment suite at Stanton Territorial Hospital in late 2011 and nearly $50,000 for the Hay River Hospital Foundation’s Stand Up, Sit Down, Look All Around campaign through our Charity Classic Golf Tournament in July 2011.

Total spending on community health and wellness initiatives in 2011 was just over $58,000.

In Lutsel K’e, De Beers sponsored a drug & alcohol workshop, Sept. 28-30, 2011, attended by band council, and band council staff. During that event, held at the community’s cultural camp, participants shared stories and ideas about how to build a healthy community.

Ideas included:• Revisiting the Prohibition Bylaw• Establish a treatment program in the community• Seek guidance and direction from Elders• Identify funding for drug and alcohol staff• Re-visit the “healing journey” started by leadership

in 1989

Among our donations to support community wellness initiatives in 2011, were:

• $10,000 to the Tlicho Government to support national addictions awareness week events

• $10,000 to support the Reliance Spiritual Gathering• $4,000 to help the Chekoa Program of the

Yellowknives Dene First Nation host a High Risk Youth/Bridging the Gap Workshop

Snap Lake Socio-Economic ReportHealth and Wellness

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Links and Contacts

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ContactsDe Beers Canada Corporate OfficeExternal and Corporate Affairs900-250 Ferrand DriveToronto, ON M3C 3G8

T: 416 645 1710, ext 2151F: 416 429 [email protected]

De Beers Canada Northwest Territories External and Corporate Affairs300-5102 50th AveYellowknife, NT X1A 3S8

T: 867 766 7300F: 867 766 [email protected]

De Beers Canada related links:De Beers Canada | debeerscanada.comFeedback form | debeerscanada.com/files_3/Feedback.phpEngaged newsletter registration | debeerscanada.com/files_3/register.phpDonations and sponsorship | debeerscanada.com/files_3/social-investment.php Careers | debeerscanada.com/files_3/careers.php

De Beers Group related links:De Beers Group | debeersgroup.comAnglo American | angloamerican.comForevermark | forevermark.comDe Beers Jewellery | debeers.com

Mining industry links:Mining Association of Canada | mining.caOntario Mining Association | oma.on.caNWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines | miningnorth.com

Diamond industry links:Kimberley Process Certification Scheme | kimberleyprocess.comWorld Diamond Council | worlddiamondcouncil.comJewellers Vigilance Canada | jewellersvigilance.caResponsible Jewellery Council | responsiblejewellerycouncil.comDiamond Bourse of Canada | diamondbourse.ca

Links

To ensure we gain a better understanding of your concerns, we invite you to share your thoughts and ideas about our company, events or initiatives, by filling in our online feedback form at:debeerscanada.com/files_3/Feedback.php

Your input is extremely important to us and will be reviewed and actioned as quickly as possible.

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