QAUSUITTUQ/RESOLUTE - Diamonds, zinc, copper, gold - they're the foundation of mineral exploration in Nunavut. But coal?

Dean Besserer, vice-president of Apex Geoscience, explores the ground at WestStar Resources' Ellesmere Island coal project, located 623 km northeast of Resolute. WestStar plans to mount a small-scale exploration program next year at the site, which is host to 2.7 million tonnes of coal. - photo courtesy of Westar Resources

Don't count it out, says Weststar Resources Corp., a Vancouver-based company that has acquired an 80 per cent stake in a historical coal deposit on Ellesmere Island, approximately 623 km northeast of Resolute.

That being said, the company - still in the very early stages of development on the project - is keeping a low profile lest it raise the expectations of residents of Resolute and Grise Fiord.

Employment opportunities at the site will only increase as the project's scope grows during the exploration stage, said president Mitchell Adam.

"If you start waving the flag, saying, 'Here we are,' you set yourself up," said Adam. "So right now we're just keeping our expenses low, plugging forward and planning for a season next year."

What the company plans to do, pending the acquisition of necessary permits, is send a crew of six people from global contractor Apex Geoscience to begin exploration work over three to five weeks next summer, with supplies flown in from Eureka.

Based on estimates from Gulf Canada Resources - one of three companies that explored the island for coal from 1981 to 1983 - four areas that fall heavily under Weststar's claim contain a total of 2.7 million tonnes of coal.

"At the end of the day, what we're hoping to do is prove up a viable resource with a tidewater coal operation whereby you just go from pit to ship," said Adam.

The project's location in the High Arctic makes it an expensive place to do exploration work, but Adam said he hopes the project will benefit from increased calls for Arctic sovereignty by the federal government as well as the opening of the Northwest Passage.

"It's sitting there because it's in Ellesmere Island," Adam said. "So the risk is, can you develop something that far north? If this was in British Columbia, this would have been snapped up, gobbled up and put into production years ago.

"If you look at the changes in the sea climate, I think there's an opportunity here for us because I think there will be a Northwest Passage. Will it happen in the next five years? I don't know. But the ship technology is definitely getting there.

"We're kind of gambling that we'll get federal support, local support; it's a Canadian asset and it will become viable."

Chris West, president of the Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce, said the development sounds exciting, but he also understands Weststar's limitations when it comes to providing local employment at such an early stage of development.

"There's a lot of junior companies that are doing exploration and until things come to life and they see a future in some of these projects, they're probably keeping it pretty quiet," said West.

"Once you get into the major drilling stages, I think we'll see an increase in the local employment."