Yellowknife (Nov 03/04) - A crew of people lined up outside the Mining Recorders Office in Yellowknife is not necessarily evidence that some lonely prospector has struck the motherload.

It likely means that they are waiting for 9 a.m. on Dec. 1 when the Mining Recorder's Office accepts prospecting permits, said Malcolm Robb, acting director for the NWT's mineral and petroleum resources directorate.

"They're offered on a first-come first-serve basis," he said.

A prospecting permit gives the permit holder the exclusive right to stake a mineral claim within the area of that permit, said Robb.

The system is designed to encourage prospecting in remote areas.

Prospecting permits for North of 60 last for five years, whereas they last for three years south of 60.

"Whoever is in line wants to make sure they're first," he said.

Once prospectors acquire their prospecting permits, they may or may not come in and stake a claim, said Robb.

The mineral director said the Mining Recorder's Office did have a line up last year in Iqaluit and there was another line up in Yellowknife the year before, but this is the earliest he can remember a line up.

"In a sense, the fact that there's a line up is encouraging. The overall mining industry has to maintain a good healthy grassroots mining exploration sector. The fact that there's a line up in a sense demonstrates there's still an interest in acquiring ground for exploration," he said.

Permits taken out last year lie close to the west and to the north of Great Bear Lake running up to the Arctic Coast, said Robb.