Diamonds at Darnley Bay?
Paulatuk residents meets with company

by Ian Elliot
Northern News Services

INUVIK (Feb 13/98) - Darnley Bay Resources claims to have found structures near Paulatuk that are often found near diamond pipes.

On the eve of major meetings with residents of Paulatuk, the company said it has found "three newly-discovered discrete magnetic anomalies...which may indicate the presence of kimberlite pipes. These anomalies are similar in nature to those found over kimberlite pipes that contain diamonds in the Lac de Gras area."

The company located two of the new anomalies about 30 kilometres northwest of Paulatuk and the third about 150 kilometres southeast of the community and some 20 kilometres inside the western boundary of the proposed Tuktut Nogait National Park.

The company undertook a major exploration project in the area to probe four huge gravitational anomalies which it said could indicate the presence of metals such as nickel, copper and platinum. One of the anomalies is inside the proposed park near La Ronciere Falls on the Hornaday River, one of the park's showpieces.

The ongoing activity has raised concerns among environmentalists and Parks Canada staff that the company could try to mine the calving ground of the Bluenose caribou herd or exert pressure to redraw the western boundary of the park to get access to the anomaly. Park officials met with community officials recently to reinforce their case for keeping the boundaries as drawn.

Darnley Bay officials met with Paulatuk residents recently to bring them up to date on what the company has discovered and what it will do next.

Neither company president Leon LaPrairie or project manager Phil Chidgzey would comment on the kimberlite prior to the community information session.

"It's kind of considered new information, and our mandate is to share new information with the community before discussing it with anyone else," Chidgzey said on Monday from Paulatuk, where he had been meeting with community and Inuvialuit Regional Corporation officials.