Iqaluit (Nov 01/04) - Two weeks earlier than ever before, mining companies appear to be paying people to line up for the chance to get first crack at prospecting permits.

"There's a high interest in exploring for minerals," said Carl McLean, department of Indian and Northern Affair's supervising mining recorder.

Applications are processed in the order received beginning at 9 a.m. on Dec. 1.

As of Oct. 27, four young men were taking turns waiting outside one of the Iqaluit INAC offices.

None of the men would give their names, or say who they were working for.

"We assume they're there for prospecting permits, but they don't really tell us a whole lot," McLean said. "Come the morning of (Dec. 1), there's often a different person out there."

People have waited around the clock prior to the Dec. 1 date for three out of the four years since the opening of the Iqaluit office, McLean said.

Out of last year's 1,518 permits distributed, DeBeers Canada Exploration received 633, McLean said.

The men waiting in line were spending their time flipping through magazines, newspapers, or listening to rap music in a vehicle parked outside the office.

Around noon, two men in a vehicle delivered a bag of cheeseburgers and some soft drinks.

McLean said there are no plans to eliminate the first-come, first-serve method, which sees people lining up weeks ahead of time in the cold for prospecting permits.

"The process seems to be working," McLean said.