The Tahera Diamond Corporation is about to begin digging Nunavut's first diamond mine, which is expected to yield high-value precious stones within about a year.

For the past two weeks, trucks have been travelling to the mine site, located just across the N.W.T. border, 400 kilometres north of Yellowknife.

Of the 500 semi-trailer loads, half contain diesel fuel for operating the mine, the mill and a camp for 100 people. The rest of the trucks will transport steel, cement, machinery and prefabricated buildings.

"Much of this equipment and certainly much of the building equipment is far too heavy to fly in, and in any case far too costly, and therefore to have it come up the winter road and available for the summer construction season is absolutely crucial for us to meet the timetable that we have in mind," said Peter Gillin, the head Tahera Diamonds.

Before the winter road thaws, the company will have trucked $65 million worth of building material to the site.

Tiffany and Company fronted half that amount in October after it got a look at the quality of diamonds Tahera would be mining.

With that kind of backing, it took equity-market investors less than a month to ante up the rest.

At half a million carats annually, the cost of all this construction material could be paid off in about two years.

That leaves six more years of almost pure profits, minus operating costs, before the mine gives up its last gem.