 | E-mail this story |  | Write letter to editor |  | Order a classified ad |
| E-mail this story | | Write letter to editor | | Order a classified ad |
Working from airstrips in Kugluktuk and Lupin, Strongbow Resources will complete aero-magnetic surveys on some 5,500 square kilometres.
The area involved is larger than Prince Edward Island.
Strongbow president Bill Wolfe said the survey is the largest ever done by a private firm in the territory.
"It is a pretty massive undertaking -- the only larger one would have been by the government."
Wolfe said the firm is currently negotiating with an air-borne geophysical contractor and hopes to begin "as soon as possible."
The survey will cost about $500,000.
It is part of a major exploration agreement signed earlier this month by Strongbow and Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI), of Cambridge Bay.
The three-year deal covers 28 parcels of land in the Kitikmeot on which the Inuit own the subsurface rights.
It is the biggest of some 50 exploration deals NTI has negotiated.
The Inuit own subsurface rights on 38,000 square kilometres of the 356,000 square kilometres included in the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement.
The unique agreement with Strongbow gives NTI the option of taking an equity position (20 per cent) in future in promising projects.
"In effect, we are wearing two hats," said NTI mineral advisor Wayne Johnson. "One as the landowner and the other as a potential partner."
The deal will cost Strongbow about $1.8 million this year and potentially $5 million over the three year term. Wolfe said the firm will reduce the size of the land package as the agreement proceeds, retaining rights on smaller, selected parcels.
The company has an interest in gold, diamonds and base metals, as well as nickel with platinum group metals.
"There are one or two areas that we will probably look at very soon," said Wolfe. "One of them is the gold deposit south of BHP's Ulu deposit (north of Lupin near the Hood River).
"Further west in the Coronation area, preliminary ground sampling has shown kimberlite indicator minerals in pretty good quantities, and we will be in there as well."
The primary focus otherwise during the first year will be on gathering information, he said.
In addition to the aerial survey, the agreement requires the firm to compile all of the existing exploration data on Inuit owned land in the Kitikmeot.
"This is a major undertaking as well and is normally something that government would do," said Wolfe.
"We'll be sending people to Iqaluit this summer to gather the information."
