Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (Nov 16/98) - Mary Flaherty is $2,000 richer this week after taking first prize in the Qikiqtaaluk Corporation's 1998 Great Baffin Rock and Mineral Collecting Contest.

Unsure still of what she's going to spend the cash on, the resident of Grise Fiord said she was overjoyed to finally bring home the gold -- quite literally.

"This is going to be my third year winning, but, this time, I'm on the top," said the 44-year- old, who has placed second in the contest for the past two years.

Thanks to a deposit of gold and copper she located somewhere outside of the Northerly community -- and she won't say exactly where -- Flaherty caught the eye of the corporation's mineral manager and submitted the sample that quickly became the one to beat.

While Mike Hine won't be able to get to the site for more basic prospecting until the spring, he said he hoped it might eventually turn into a partnership with a mining company for Flaherty.

"We're going to follow up on those samples right away. Hopefully, the result is money in her pocket and jobs for folks in Grise Fiord, at least part-time summer exploration jobs," said Hine.

Flaherty said she loved the idea of having a paying position in the field that has been her passion since she was a child.

"I always liked rocks and, when we had no toys to play with when the government first dropped us down here, that's when I started to play with rocks. Ever since, I've loved them," she said, referring to her family's government relocation to Grise Fiord.

Never having studied rocks or minerals in school, Flaherty has spent the past few years participating in prospecting courses offered by QC around the Baffin region and, according to Hine, those courses have contributed to the growing success of the contest.

"The quality of the samples are getting better. We've been doing this rock contest for three years. I think every year it's getting better," he said, noting that more than 180 samples were submitted this year coming from as far away as Kugluktuk.

"If nothing else, the contest raises the awareness of the people. Lets just take another look at the rocks we're standing on because they could just be worth a lot of money or jobs."

Second prize and $1,000 went to Simata Pitsiulak for locating a source of labradorite, a stone that is currently quite precious and being quarried in Nain by the Labrador Inuit Association.

Making the decision between the two top samples was a difficult one for Hine and he said it finally boiled down to deciding which sample would draw the most attention.

"It's sort of a judgement call. Gold and copper are kind of hot and sexy. Even though the price is down, that's the sort of stuff that captures people's attention up here...in terms of promoting the contest and doing the most for the Baffin, gold and copper come first," said Hine.

Joeli Sangoya of Pond Inlet won third prize and $500 for a sample of sedimentary concretion and Iqaluit's Inusiq Shoo sent in quartz crystals in a granite host and won fourth place and $250.