Gjoa Haven plans for cruise ships

Gjoa Haven is one of a small number of communities in Nunavut that will actually be receiving more cruise ships than last year, and the hamlet is pulling out all the stops to make sure passengers get a unique Northern experience.

Mayor Joanni Sallerina said he regrets that he won't be present for the first ship, an Adventure Canada vessel landing on August 25, since he'll be attending a meeting of Kitikmeot region mayors in Cambridge Bay. But he said the community will be displaying arts and crafts in the community hall as well as performing drum dancing and other traditional activities in the community arena.

"We'll be doing the same things for the other (three) ships," he said.

New joint venture gets Meadowbank work

Qamanittuaq/Baker Lake

A new joint venture between a Baker Lake-based development corporation and a Quebec engineering firm has already secured two contracts for work at Agnico-Eagle's Meadowbank gold mine, located 70 km north of Baker Lake and slated to begin commercial production early next year.

Qamanittuaq Sana, a partnership between the Qamanittuaq Development Corporation and Fernand Gilbert Ltee, has won contracts for gravel crushing and dike work at the mine-in-progress.

The company plans to expand its operations to other areas, too, said David Simailak, president of the new company.

"I don't think we'll limit ourselves to Baker Lake," he said.

- Darrell Greer

Mine passes on hydro

Whati/Lac La Martre

Fortune Mineral's future NICO gold-cobalt-bismuth-copper mine near Whati will run on fuel, despite being located 22 kilometres west of the N.W.T. Power Corp.'s Snare River hydroelectric plant, said Fortune president Robin Goad.

"I don't want to point the finger at anyone, but we were also provided with certain power rates and assurance that we were going to get sufficient power to operate this mine from hydro expansion," said Goad.

"We've been trying to work for quite some time to get things moving and get a power plant built and nothing happened."

The NICO project is currently undergoing environmental assessment by the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board.

Hay River quilt shop starts Christmas project

Joey's Sweets' N Things in Hay River started a fun new program this year, according to co-owner Shari Burnstad.

It's called the Block of the Month program. Every month, from May to December, customers buy a block of cotton material and weave Christmas-themed patterns on individual blocks involving everything from penguin-pulled sleighs to wreath-wearing seals. Eventually, all the blocks are combined into a quilt called "Once Upon a Star," originated by master southern weaver McKenna Ryan.

Burnstad said one block takes an average of six hours to complete. She added the store hopes to arrange a display of all the finished quilts at Christmas time, if not in January.