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10 Tuesday August 25 2015 Early Childhood Development Scholarships More information is available online at rightfromthestart.ca or check out our Facebook page at Facebook.comNWTRightFromTheStart or contact the Early Childhood Development Intern Paige Scott 867 920-6330 Considering a career in Early Childhood Development in the NWT Have you been accepted into a full-time diploma or degree program for the 2015-2016 school year Then apply today for the 5000 Right from the Start Early Childhood Development Scholarship. Ten 5000 scholarships will be awarded to qualifying full-time college and university students to help with the cost of attending accredited post-secondary institutes in Diploma or Degree programs with a direct focus in Early Childhood Development. Deadline for Application is September 15 2015 By MEAGAN WOHLBERG Diamond deposits in the Northwest Ter- ritories could have been formed as a result of ancient seawater streaming deep into the earth via plate tectonics according to a new studybyscientistsinCanadatheU.S.andU.K. The research published last week in the Nature journal builds off a previous study which found water trapped more than 500 km underground to be a result of ocean water recycling. This new study really highlights that process. It clearly demonstrates that ocean water in this case has been subducted via an old oceanic slab into a slightly shallower but still very deep part of the Earth said Graham Pearson a professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Alberta and Canada Research Chair in Arc- tic Resources. From there it has pumped that brine into the bottom of the root beneath the Northwest Territories and its made the diamonds. While all diamonds are known to be formed from fluids its the ugly ones - the low- quality cloudy gems - that make the link to ancient seawater. According to Pearson the less attractive stones with a cloudy coat are sky-high in so- dium and potassium and chlorine which is very difficult to get from the Earths mantle. Its a big mystery where does that come from Well we can show that maybe the most sensible place for it to come from is seawa- ter which is basically a sodium chloride so- lution he said. Pearson said the seawater likely became trapped in a massive slab of oceanic crust that was subducted beneath the continent of North America hundreds of millions of years ago. The interaction of the water with the overlying mantle rocks then produced a chemically diverse range of fluids from which diamonds were born and could be carried back to the Earths surface via volcanic rock known as kimberlite bringing evidence of deep underground fluids with them. The beauty of the diamond is that because its such a robust capsule it protects the ma- terial that it trapped at that depth from any subsequent change Pearson said. It liter- ally carries pristine bits of material from right where it came from essentially unchanged. While high-quality diamonds are estimated to have been formed three to 3.5 billion years ago the lower quality fluid-rich diamonds ap- pear to be just a few hundred million years old by comparison. Pearson and his team plan to do further studies to test their theory that the two types of diamonds were formed by similar processes but that fluid-rich stones turned into gem diamonds over time. What we appear to be finding more and more is that the standard model that used to be around - diamonds are only formed in very ancient times 3.5 billion years ago by a very specific process - is not true says Pearson. There are more processes that form diamonds at a whole range of different times than we thought possible. Scientists believe a greater understand- ing of how diamonds form can be used to develop exploration models used to find fu- ture deposits which could be of great value to the NWT the primary source of diamonds in Canada. Ugly NWT diamonds suggest gems formed by ancient seawater PhotoDaveBrosha By MEAGAN WOHLBERG Ministerial travel expense claims will be put through a more rigorous review after an investigation by the NWTs Comptroller General found several claims filed by Indus- try Minister David Ramsay were ineligible. Ramsaywasforcedtoreimburse192.97for per diems and incidentals related to a stay in Montebello Quebec last February following a review conducted last week that stemmed from an investigation by NewsNorth. The ineligible claims included the rental of a luxury Audi A4 sedan claims for a taxi while using the rental car - against territorial rules - and two ineligible per diems. But Comptroller General Bill Merklinger determined that the remainder of the minis- ters expenses red flagged by the media - in- cluding a two-night stay at luxury hotel Fair- mont le Chateau Montebello costing 757.77 - were eligible for compensation. According to Merklinger travel policy al- lows for reimbursement of hotel costs if it was not cost effective to return home between work meetings. That said the department of Finance has agreed to increase its vigilance in light of the recent administrative oversights to ensure any ineligible claims are removed prior to final processing and reimbursement. The prior approach to reviewing travel claims was to have a Financial Shared Ser- vices FSS clerk review and process a travel claim by a minister. The more rigorous re- view now in place as of August 14 2015 is a second level quality assurance review of ministerial travel claims by an FSS manager explained Andrew Livingstone senior cabi- net communications advisor for the Office of the Premier and Cabinet. Our expectation is that this second quality assurance review after the first review by the clerk will miti- gate administrative errors. Ministers submitting ineligible claims will now be sent a constructive explana- tory note outlining the reasons for rejec- tion as well. Ministerial travel reports and expenses will continue to be made public on the GNWTs Executive website at httpwww.executive. gov.nt.capublicationsministerialTR Ministers expense claims to undergo more rigorous review POLITICS TERRITORIAL PhotocourtesyoftheGNWT ENVIRONMENT GEOLOGY A new study on diamonds in the NWT indicates the gems contain elements thought to originate from ancient seawater trapped deep within the earth. Minister David Ramsay was forced to pay back 192.97 in ineligible expense claims.