Baker Lake (July 19/06) - An Edmonton-based mining firm has started a $3 million summertime gold exploration push on the tundra outside Baker Lake.

Officials at Committee Bay Resources Ltd. are hoping to learn more about a 300-kilometre long mineral belt near the inland community.

A helicopter delivers supplies to a prospecting camp outside of Baker Lake. - photo courtesy of Committee Bay Resources Ltd.

The so-called greenstone strike, which was discovered in 1992, has been compared to some of the richest gold deposits in Canada.

"The potential here is significant," said corporate development officer Jim Paterson.

"This is one of the largest and least explored greenstone belts (in the country)."

Committee Bay spent $9 million on exploration in 2005. The most developed area in the belt - know as Three Bluffs - has an inferred reserve of 487,000 ounces of gold. That would be worth about $316 million at current prices.

This summer, prospectors will drill other areas of the massive deposit. Committee Bay owns more than 900,000 acres - or 85 per cent - of the belt.

The stake is "geologically comparable" to finds in Kirkland Lake and Timmins, Ont., the company said. Those strikes are among the most lucrative in Canada and helped open the Northern part of that province.

Rankin Inlet is the hub of Committee Bay's exploration program, Paterson said. Local companies provide transportation, supplies and camp helpers. There are 30 people working on the summer program, including four from Repulse Bay, he said.

While results have been positive, exploration is still in the early phases.

It will likely be "years and years" before any mine becomes operational, Paterson said.