Stephan Burnett
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Oct 13/03) - Among the diamond company executives visiting Iqaluit this week, three prospectors slightly set apart by dress and style manned a table covered with rock samples.

Prospectors Bill Gawor and Mark Kinniksie man a table at the Nunavut Mining Symposium in Iqaluit Oct. 6-8. - NNSL photo

The prospectors came to the conference to share their knowledge with some of the diamond industry's heavy hitters.

"We're the front-line soldiers, we walk the ground," said Bill Gawor, 61, who has prospected in the North and still searching for an Eldorado.

Knowing what prospectors like Gawor, Mark Kinniksie and Peter Suwaksiork know, could mean big bucks for mining companies, but the information won't be given away.

The Nunavut government provides grub stakes for prospectors but it's only, $5,000 a year, said Gawor.

"It's $100 a day for a helper and $700 an hour for a helicopter, not including fuel. We're on a shoe string compared to most of these companies," he said.

Suwaksiork, from the Arviat region, has been in prospecting for nine years. He used to work with geologists but is now on his own.

Through an interpreter, Suwaksiork said he has worked all over the Kivalliq region, from Keewatin, Arviat and Whale Cove as well as Chesterfield Inlet.

Suwaksiork said he's in the midst of talks with a mining company and hopes to make a deal soon.

Mark Kinniksie has quite a few rocks in front of himself as well.

Kinniksie, from Arviat, started prospecting in 1988, when he was 17-years-old.

Kinniksie says he's found copper and gold near Reindeer Seal Lake. He's staked two claims so far and is looking to stake another next summer. Gawor summed it all up.

"You got to go out and hammer on the rocks. You can go and fly in all the expensive airplanes and helicopters but I think most is still found on foot."