The federal government is providing a $115-million loan to Arctic Canadian Diamond Company Ltd., operator of the Ekati diamond mine in the Northwest Territories, to help maintain operations and safeguard jobs during a period of trade and market uncertainty.

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced the loan on Dec. 18. It comes through the Large Enterprise Tariff Loan facility, managed by Canada Enterprise Emergency Funding Corporation, which was created to assist Canadian companies affected by tariffs and countermeasures.

The diamond sector employs more than 1,000 Northerners and contributes nearly 20 per cent of the territory’s gross domestic product. The government said the industry faces challenges from tariffs, low global diamond prices, inflationary pressures, and supply chain disruptions.

Ekati, Canada’s first combined surface and underground diamond mine, is located about 300 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife in the Lac de Gras region. The mine, owned by Burgundy Diamond Mines Limited since 2023, was reportedly facing bankruptcy, according to Burgundy CEO Jeremy King.

“It was either this line or we were looking at bankruptcy and shutting the mine down,” King told CBC News.

In 2024, Ekati employed 208 Northern Indigenous workers and invested $210 million in Northern Indigenous businesses. The government said the loan will help sustain jobs and provide stability while it works with the Government of the Northwest Territories, Indigenous governments, and Northern organizations to diversify the economy and create new opportunities.

“Our government understands the value diamond mining brings to the Northwest Territories’ economy and its people,” Champagne said in the release.

“The loan … will help to maintain good, high-value jobs, strengthen our Northern industries, and help us build a more diversified and prosperous economic future for all of Canada,” said the minister.