The Quebec government's Contaminated Sites Program has taken charge of the Jericho diamond mine abandoned by Shear Diamonds last September. The Nunavut Water Board says the Contaminated Sites Program has taken charge of immediate environmental protection at the site, including the management of tailings and fuel and hazardous waste. The aim is to manage "risks to persons, property or the environment until such time as the project's future becomes clearer."



Shear Diamonds has not sent employees to clean up the site despite an order to do so by a federal government inspector to do so. Under the terms of its water license, the diamond company was supposed to have posted a security bond of $3.4 million to be held by the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development to pay for a clean-up in the event the company went bankrupt. Shear Diamonds reportedly still owes more than $2 million to the federal government.



Tahera Diamond opened the Jericho mine project in 2006, stopped mining operations in 2008, and sold the mine to Shear Diamonds two years later.