Thorunn Howatt
Northern News Services

Nanisivik (Oct 07/02) - A church. A school. Homes and friends. Those ingredients make up a community.

They also made up Nanisivik zinc mine.

"The day you open a mine is the day you start worrying about when you are going to close it," said Bill Heath of Breakwater Resources Ltd.

Last week, Nanisivik shut down. Over the last six weeks, people have been boarding planes to go south -- never to return.

The zinc and silver mining community is located at the Northern end of Nunavut's Baffin Island. The 26-year-old mine was nearing the end of its reserves but low zinc prices and higher operating costs sped up the end of the mine's useful life.

Nanisivik is owned by CanZinco Ltd. and CanZinco is owned by Breakwater Resources Ltd. The mine's abandonment and reclamation plan was filed last March but it's not clear how many people will be involved in restoring the Nanisivik property to pre-mine condition. There's lots of work to do.

"Even when the end of production comes we still have the reclamation work to look forward to," said Heath.

Reclamation plans aren't finished yet.

"There is a fair bit of waste-rock on surface that has to be hauled underground," said Heath. It hasn't been decided yet what to do with heavy equipment but some will go to the community of Arctic Bay.

It also hasn't been decided what to do with the recreation centre, ice-hockey arena, pool, library, nursing station, RCMP detachment, houses and school. Up until this year, kids went to classes there.

In the valley

Nanisivik's airport is at the top of a mountain. When new arrivals landed and looked down, they saw about 50 houses, a dormitory, and a bunkhouse.

The homes are sitting mostly empty now.

About halfway down the mountain, people would see an industrial complex -- the mill and the entrance to the mine.

The docks sit at the base of the mountain. That's where the fuel tanks and concentrate sheds are. It's about a three-kilometre drive from the mine-site to the town-site.

In its heyday, Nanisivik housed about 325 people. Last week there were still 85 people on site -- about one-third from Newfoundland, a third from Quebec and the rest from other places, including 15 from nearby Arctic Bay. There were some who worked at the mine for more than 20 years. To some, it is "home."

"It will be, I suspect, a pretty emotional time for people," said Heath.

Employee numbers should dwindle to 38 by mid-October and then drop off to 10 by mid-November.

Nanisivik's houses are going to be winterized to avoid decay.

"In the long-term our hope is that the Government of Nunavut is going to find some use for the infrastructure at Nanisivik and that includes the

houses," said Heath.

So far, there has been some movement on that front. The airport, road and dock will remain after the closure.

Economic impact

The shutdown leaves Arctic Bay's people without mining jobs, though.

"The impact in wages on Arctic Bay has been about $1 million annually," said Nunavut's Minister of sustainable development, Olayuk Akesuk. "That mine has contributed positively to the people of Arctic Bay."

But cleanup may open the door for other opportunities -- jobs related to reclamation.

And the closed mine also means a supply of trained miners. In 2001, the company installed a $7 million dense media separation plant, thinking it would extend the life of the mine.

Since dense-media separation is an integral part of diamond mining, the training could mean jobs for miners at Northern diamond mines.