Nunavut diamond mine owner owes $180K in unpaid work

An Edmonton-based engineering firm has been granted an order to seek up to $180,000 in assets from a Nunavut diamond mine owner.

EBA Engineering Consultants filed a motion to enforce liens filed against Shear Diamonds Jericho Diamond Mine to cover six months of unpaid engineering and consulting work. The work ranged from fish monitoring to geotechnical inspections.

A lawyer for the firm was present by telephone in Iqaluit court Wednesday morningShear Diamonds was a no-show.

Last fall, Shear Diamonds virtually disappearedit closed its Jericho site andstopped responding to calls or emails.

The lawyer for EBA Engineering Consultants described multiple efforts to contact Shear Diamonds and to serve notice of the lawsuit.

Documents filed with the court allege that Shear's president, Julie Lassonde, did not respond to emails starting in November of 2012. She has not been heard from since.

In email correspondence, filed with the court as evidence, a former contractor with EBA says she also hasn't heard from Shear Diamonds. She added that she has been contacted by other companies who were also unpaid and facing the same "wall of silence."

Justice Earle Johnson said he was satisfied with the efforts made to reach the company, and granted the order.

EBA Engineering can now search for Shear Diamond's assets to cover the debt, but they'll have to seek another court order before selling those assets.

Any proceeds above the $180,000 will be held for other lien holders.

EBA's lawyer says he knows of at least one other company that has filed a lien against Shear Diamonds.

Court records indicate the company has not filed anything in its defense.