SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Of 28 active mineral projects in Nunavut in 2016, 18 are gold related, Matthew Senkow, manager of mineral resources for Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada's (INAC) Nunavut office, told an audience at the 44th annual Geoscience Forum, held in Yellowknife Nov. 15 to 17.

Alex Buchan, director of community relations for TMAC Resources Inc., holds an ore sample from the Doris North Gold Mine at Hope Bay. - Beth Brown/NNSL photo

The gold-centric mining efforts are especially concentrated in the Kitikmeot region. TMAC Resources Inc.'s Doris North Gold Mine at Hope Bay, and Sabina Gold and Silver Corp's Back River Gold Project were highlighted at the forum.

"The mineral industry in Nunavut has the potential to be an absolute game changer as far as economics go," said Linda Ham, chief geologist for the Canada-Nunavut Geoscience Office. The Back River mine is no exception.

"It would open up the Kitikmeot," Ham said. "On the other hand, caribou is very important. Collectively we have to figure out how to make responsible use of land for different purposes."

Concern is that caribou will be the true cost on Nunavut gold.

Forum attendees were reminded of the Nunavut Impact Review Board's June decision to halt plans for the Back River project.

Since then communities in the Kitikmeot region, the Kitikmeot Inuit Association and the Government of Nunavut have appealed to INAC to have the project reconsidered.

"There are 21 letters of support from the communities," said Matthew Pickard, vice president of environment and sustainability for Sabina Gold & Silver Corporation. "There's a strong letter of support from the Government of Nunavut and the Kitikmeot Inuit Association."

The region sees the project as an opportunity for economic development, skill training and employment.

Production for the proposed project sits at about 350,000 ounces annually.

"We've identified about 7.2 million ounces between the various deposits," Pickard said.

The mine will have a 10 to 12 year life span for resource extraction.

Environmental critics suggest that areas used as calving grounds should be protected from resource development ventures.

The Nunavut Planning Commission is considering imposing restrictions on development in known areas that are crucial to caribou migration, such as annual calving areas, but restrictions have yet to be put in place.

"Currently any of those concerns are handled case by case by the NIRB," said Pickard.

He said mines have procedures where they can shut down operation should caribou be in the area, or slow pace of production in calving or post calving periods. "You can't stop everything, but you can shut down the blasting and the heavy haul trucks."

The development of a land use plan is complicated by a lack of adequate mapping, and a lack of geological survey, Ham said.

"We are the only jurisdiction in Canada that does not have a geological survey. When Nunavut was first formed, it was fair to say that about 70 per cent of Nunavut was mapped inadequately."

The Canada-Nunavut Geoscience Office acts as a a de facto geological survey, but can only work on small projects.

"We are trying to map to a more detailed scale to let everybody know what is beneath their feet."

The mapping allows mining companies to pinpoint areas for exploration based on what minerals are generally found in a given rock type.

Right now Sabina is waiting for response from the minister and planning its next steps.

Doris North is also waiting for approval on an amended water license for increased production and future exploration, though the license has been moving froward, as announced by the company earlier this month.

"The water board has completed its process, and made the recommendation to the minister to issue an amended water license," said Alex Buchan, director of community relations for TMAC Resources Inc. in Cambridge Bay.

The license is the last step in having the mine approved for future exploration and extended mine life.

"We have an active exploration program in the Hope Bay belt. It's very focused on our existing mineral property to look at gold resources and existing deposits and other targets further out," he said.

For now, the focus is on hiring a production work force, so workers can move in as soon as the gold processing plant reaches completion, said Buchan.

"Exploration has to wait."

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