Holman (Aug 11/03) - Holman residents are concerned they'll loose their caribou because of diamond exploration set to start on Victoria Island this week.

Commander Resources -- a Vancouver-based company formerly known as Major General Resources -- is set to explore for diamond deposits in the Kagloryuak River and Burns Lake region of Victoria Island.

The area is located 250 kilometres west of Holman on the eastern tip of Prince Albert Sound. The sound is the only place Holman hunters can harvest caribou during the summer months.

Commander Resources made the application to the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs in April. As part of the application process, the company held an information session in the community in June.

Thirty-one residents attended the meeting to state their concerns. They followed up with a petition to Robert Nault, minister of Indian and Northern Affairs.

"Everybody still feels the same way -- they're not happy with it," said Mary Banksland, chair of the Hunters and Trappers Committee.

Banksland said besides expressing their concerns there's not much more the community can do.

"I know the community is not supportive of this," said Holman Mayor Gary Bristow.

"I understand the cultural aspect of it but our young people need jobs too. I'm kind of caught in between."

Right now the company has an exploration camp on the Nunavut side of Victoria Island. The same 20 people will head over to the NWT side to start the magnetic surveys by helicopter this week.

"We're as far away from Holman as London is from Edinburgh," said Bernard Kahlert, Commander Resources vice-president of exploration, about the impact on the community.

Kahlert said the investment and potential employment opportunities for the community could be great if enough diamond deposits are found.

The exploration team has already hired one Holman resident to act as an environmental monitor.

"There is an economic benefit to be had in the end but people feel the caribou are more important then the economic value," said Bristow.

Target drilling and magnetic surveys -- on land and from the air -- will run until the end of August or beginning of September.