Stephan Burnett
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Oct 13/03) - Pam Strand stands at the front of a room filled primarily with men.

She's the president of Shear Minerals and presenting to the Nunavut Mining Symposium. She speaks of the Churchill play which her company Shear Minerals has a 60 per cent share.

The mining boys in the room are all ears.

Strand doesn't have to fight for respect.

She knows she's qualified, she knows the players and she's earned her stripes.

Above it all, she's sitting on what could potentially become one of the most significant diamond plays in Canadian history.

Out of the 11 kimberlite pipes Shear has drilled six hosted diamonds - an almost unbelievable success ratio.

"We believe we're in a cluster of diamonds that is diamondiferous," she states in a point-of-fact matter.

Strand, a geologist by trade, went to school at the University of Toronto, graduating in 1987.

Immediately afterward, she began looking for gold west of Rankin Inlet for Nerco which later became Miramar.

"Soon after I started my master's thesis -- through Athabasca -- I never left," she says.

Strand finished her M.A. in 1993 and then lived in Yellowknife for six years, first as a staff geologist for the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, later becoming district geologist.

"I was there at a very fortuitous time when the Lac de Gras rush was on. I gained knowledge on diamond exploration and who all the players were. It was a steep learning curve," she says.

On the subject of being a woman in an industry that is still dominated primarily by men, Strand admits, at times it can be difficult.

"For me it's just natural. Women are increasingly dominating business and in geology."

"Some might say we have to work harder but we're excellent technicians, with experience and expertise," she says.