Kugluktuk (Nov 20/06) - In the late 1990s, Dan Harvey blasted a load of shale from a site between Kugluktuk and the hamlet's airport.

According to Harvey's sister, Faith-Anne Harvey Embleton, he sold stockpiled shale to the Hamlet of Kugluktuk, the Government of Nunavut and to local residents. The spot became known as Dan's gravel pit, and Harvey as Digger Dan.

A plume of dust rises from a blast at Dan Harvey's shale quarry near Kugluktuk in this photo from the late 1990s. Harvey's sister is trying to uncover the documents that prove her brother's ownership of the site. - photo courtesy of Faith-Anne Harvey Embleton

Dan Harvey died in 2002, leaving behind family and his company, Arctic Coast Enterprises.

Embleton claims the Hamlet of Kugluktuk continued to haul shale from the quarry - which she says is worth around $100,000 - after Harvey's death. Exactly for how long is unclear.

"We know that (Dan) personally quarried, blasted and stockpiled," she said.

"We found bills where he shipped the blasting stuff in, so obviously he had a license, because you can't get it on the plane without it."

There's just one problem: the documentation appears to have disappeared and ownership of the quarry is up for grabs. Neither the hamlet nor the Government of Nunavut can locate any conclusive records that indicate Harvey was licensed to quarry.

Paul Waye, Kugluktuk's senior administrative officer, dismissed Embleton's professed rights to the quarry.

"I don't see any validity to the claim," Waye said.

Quarry permits expire annually, and without renewal, the property reverts to the ownership of the commissioner of Nunavut. When that happens, a hamlet is within its rights to haul material from the site, Waye said.

Shawn Maley, the assistant deputy minister of Community and Government Services, says the documentation simply does not exist.

It's possible, he said, that Harvey was operating a "laissez faire" quarry, of which there are many across the Arctic.

The Hamlet of Kugluktuk, Maley said, operates a licensed gravel quarry at Seven Mile Island. He sympathizes with Embleton's predicament, adding, "I've turned over every stone I could turn over."

Embleton said she's been told pertinent documents might exist on microfiche in Ottawa. A search at GNWT offices in Yellowknife was also fruitless.

She said she hasn't ruled out legal action, but doesn't want to go to court.