ARVIAT - The company behind an exploration project that provided more than 35 jobs to Rankin Inlet and Arviat residents last year is sitting things out this summer, forcing former employees to find work elsewhere, with mixed results.

David Illungiayok of Arviat works in the core shack at Starfield Resources' Ferguson Lake nickel-copper-cobalt deposit, located 240 km west of Rankin Inlet, last summer. While more than half of the project's staff of 70 were culled from Arviat and Rankin Inlet last year, no work is being done on the site this year, forcing workers to seek a living elsewhere, with varied results, according to the mayor of Rankin Inlet and the deputy mayor of Arviat. - photo courtesy of Starfield Resources Inc.

Starfield Resources, which is developing the nickel-copper-cobalt Ferguson Lake deposit located 240 km west of Rankin Inlet, spent $18 million last year constructing a new landing strip, upgrading a camp and drilling.

But while the junior exploration company had hoped to spend $7 million following up on the discovery of a micro diamond at the site, the difficult search for cash forced the company to drastically cut back. Besides an April airborne geophysical survey, the company has done nothing this summer, said president Andre Douchane.

"It's a decline," said John Hickes, mayor of Rankin Inlet. "To our community, the people that are involved in that kind of work - I'm talking field work, equipment handlers - it's had a drastic impact."

However, a variety of construction projects in the hamlet - including the Nunavut Trades Training Centre and four new fiveplexes from the Nunavut Housing Corporation - have provided job safety for some former Starfield employees, added Hickes.

"If you had 10 people working at Ferguson Lake, those 10 people, with their limited experience in terms of equipment and stuff of that nature, they're working elsewhere right now," he said.

But they may be doing work they're unsuited for, he continued.

"(Field work) was their point of interest ... and now they're changing to labour work in the construction field.

"The biggest impact is on the community of Arviat, which doesn't have these construction components coming in this year."

Elizabeth Copeland, deputy mayor of Arviat, said there is construction work going on in her community, but not all Starfield employees have the transferable skills necessary to move on to construction.

"There's a lot of construction going on, a lot of buildings going up, so there is work available," said Copeland.

"But then, maybe a few of these (people) did not have the skills to do construction. They were doing field work.

"So it depends on the qualifications." Copeland said she personally knew of two people who served as field workers, assisting the geologist, at Ferguson Lake last year. They both have families and have so far not been able to find work elsewhere. "That's not good," she said.