There was the gold rush in the late-19th century in the Yukon when tens of thousands of stampeders headed north to Dawson City to make their fortunes. Now it's diamonds, first in the Northwest Territories, now in the new territory of Nunavut. From a standing start in 1991, Canada now ranks in the top three diamond producers in the world in terms of value.

Canada's quest for diamonds looks like one of the biggest stories in Canada for the next 10, 20 years - and beyond.

The first diamond discovery in 1991 happened at Point Lake near Lac de Gras in the Northwest Territories, some 300 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife. Since the discovery, two diamond mines have come into production up there: Ekati and Diavik. Diavik is about 100 kilometres southeast of Ekati. A third diamond mine, Jericho-3, should begin production in 2005, in Nunavut. A fourth diamond mine, Snap Lake-4 in the Northwest Territories, should begin production in 2006.

Ekati is owned by Australian mining conglomerate BHP Billton (80 per cent) and by prospectors Charles Fipke and Stewart Blusson (20 per cent). Diavik is owned by Britain's Rio Tinto PLC (60 per cent) and Toronto-based Aber Diamond Corp. (40 per cent).

Statistics Canada says that between 1998 and 2002, 13.8 million carats have been mined, and the diamonds - precious stones of pure carbon - are worth $2.8 billion. "This is roughly a 1.5-kilogram bag of ice each day for five years, with each bag worth $1.5 million," a Statistics Canada paper says.

Even better, Canada's diamonds have gained a world reputation for quality. They are also "clean" in that they are not used to finance terror, war and weapons as they are in parts of the world such as Sierra Leone and Angola. At the end of 2003, Canada was the world's third-largest producer of diamonds, providing 15 per cent of the world's supply. The top two diamond producers are Botswana and Russia.

Canadian diamonds not only are clean, as in not being "dirty diamonds" or "blood diamonds," they are actually rather wholesome-looking, each etched with a speck of polar bear as a trademark. They're also fashionable, as when Canadian teen singer Avril Lavigne attended the MTV Awards in New York in 2003, wearing $50,000 worth of Canadian diamonds.

The supply of Canadian diamonds is not expected to diminish any time soon. Ekati, Diavik, Jericho and Snap Lake are expected to keep producing the best diamonds in the world for the next 18 years. By then, of course, judging by the prospecting, claims and permit action in the Canadian North, more diamond mines will have come on line, probably lots more.

The intense diamond activity produces more than diamonds. Many ancillary activities spin off the diamond action, such as non-residential construction, transportation in the North, as well as Arctic and sub-Arctic engineering projects. No other pursuits - not gold, not pipelines - promise more long-term excitement and riches than the production of diamonds in the vast expanse of the Canadian North.

This means high-income jobs, many of them permanent, not just smash-and-grab projects. Workers directly involved in diamond mining in the North increased from 90 to 700 between 1998 and 2001. Recent figures say diamond-jobs are nearing 2,000 in early 2004.

The average salary is about $63,000, with nearly a third of the jobs - in some regions, nearly 80 per cent - done by aboriginals. Trained diamond cutters - many in Canada from Armenia, Israel, China and Vietnam - command salaries above $100,000.