Christine Grimard
Northern News Services
Wednesday, June 20, 2007

BAKER LAKE - A slew of government, private, and non-government organizations were in Baker Lake last week discussing the hot topic of uranium.

Residents heard a series of speakers addressing the concerns and benefits surrounding the potential of opening uranium mines in the area.

The meetings were held to fulfill requirements of the Keewatin Regional Land Use Plan.

It requires a review of all issues relevant to uranium exploration and mining. A report on the meetings is expected this fall.

For Joan Scottie, who represents the Baker Lake Hunting and Trapping Organization, the meetings were a welcome information session and an opportunity to see the positive and negative sides of the uranium mining question.

"It was pretty balanced, unlike what we had been hearing for the past year," said Scottie.

Scottie was referring to the community information sessions held by the Kivalliq Inuit Association.

KIA toured the region with representatives of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and Areva resources Canada Ltd., a company hoping to open a uranium mine near Baker Lake.

Following those meetings, four communities passed motions that uranium development can proceed to screening and review, said Carson Gillis, director of the department of Lands and Resources for NTI.

Gillis and Steve Hartman, environmental officer for KIA, said that these motions may be enough to move uranium development to screening and review stage.

The Land Use Plan states that, "any future proposal to mine uranium must be approved by the people of the region."

If the Nunavut Planning Commission agrees that those motions meet that test, it will be up to the Nunavut Impact Review Board to decide what further studies might be needed, said Gillis.

Geologists have been searching for commercial uranium deposists in the Baker Lake area for more than 30 years and at least 25 projects are underway.

Areva Resources (formerly Comego) will resume work on a project that sdtarted in 1974 but has been mothballed for a decade.

Barry McCallum, manager of Nunavut affairs for Areva, said construction of a mine could start as early as 2012, pending government approval and positive results from further exploration.

Kaminak Gold Corp., in partnership with Pacific Ridge Exploration, is also looking for uranium around Baker Lake.

It is in its second year of a $3 million drilling program.

"We're trying to show that it has merit and value," said Tony Reda, a spokesperson for Kaminak.

Arviat Mayor Johnny Mamgark said that most residents are in favour of mining which could bring jobs to the area. However, he noted most are just now learning about uranium and its potential effects.

"When both sides were talking, we were kind of living in between," said Mamgark. "As Inuit, we don't really understand what uranium is."

Mamgark said he heard from businesses offering employment to the region, which was the biggest seller for him.

"The younger generation, we support it," said Mamgark. "I think it would bring a lot of money to each community."

Mamgark said the elders were primarily against the mines, for fears of loosing area wildlife.

He said that he talked to a few people from Saskatchewan living around the mines, and they said they're still hunting and fishing. But if the choice comes between wildlife and employment, Mamgark said he'll take the jobs.

"My kids don't even hunt anymore."

Monte Hummel, president emmeritus of the World Wildlife Fund in Canada, is critical of what he sees as an "all or nothing" stance the government of Nunavut has taken on uranium development in the area.

"This is being framed as an either or decision by the community," said Hummel. "Either you do uranium mining everywhere or nowhere. That's a heck of a choice."

Hummel is encouraging the government to protect caribou calving grounds.

He is critical of 400 prospecting permits, mineral claims, or leases he says have been issued on these grounds.

McCallum said Areva Resources could employ up to 600 workers during the three-year construction phase, and would aim to get half of those employees from the North, matching local employment ratios in Saskatchewan.

During the operation of the mine, the company would employ up to 500 people, and would try to hire half of those from the local labour pool.

McCallum said the company has talked to Nunavut Arctic College about working together on training programs for workers the mine would need.

Areva has already brought some employment to the area, choosing to build core sample boxes locally rather than shipping them up from the south.

"We have a policy of bringing as much of the benefits as possible to the North," said McCallum. "Why give that work to somebody in the South?"