KINNGUAK/BATHURST INLET - A precious metals exploration project in the Kitikmeot region that employs several Nunavummiut has indicated it will likely follow up its 2009 drilling campaign with more work next year.

Doris Keyok of Cambridge Bay stays warm in the Hackett River camp kitchen. - photo courtesy of Sabina Silver Corporation

Sabina Silver Corporation owns the silver, lead, zinc, copper and gold deposit at Hackett River located 75 km southwest of Bathurst Inlet, host to 58 million tonnes of resources and thought to have a potential mine life of at least 14 years.

"It (has) all the characteristics of a ... (similar) deposit like at Kidd Mine (in Timmins, Ont.), which has ... been producing for 60 years and has supported big, huge infrastructure like a railway, a smelting plant," said Nicole Hoeller, director of investor relations at Sabina.

But Sabina's relatively new management team has deferred the pre-feasibility study in favour of shoring up the amount of high-value metals at Hackett River.

"We have the critical mass to be able to support the infrastructure that's required - the road and port, the mill. But anything that's going to make that bigger and anything that's going to make that richer is what we want to find before we go into full blown engineering studies," said Hoeller.

Last year, the company sent a geologist to Hackett River to give the project a fresh look.

"He had a look at it and he said, 'You know, you've got a huge resource there, but there is a lot of upside (additional resources) to this project as well,'" she said.

"Copper is worth more than zinc. Silver is worth more than copper. Gold is worth more than silver. The more of those metals that you can get into the deposit, the better your economics are going to be when you're going to mine it."

This year, the company spent $6 million on additional drilling at Hackett River.

"We're just in the process of receiving all of our assays from this year's drilling, so we're going to put those into context," said Hoeller.

"We've had some success identifying some of the targets that we wanted to and we're encouraged by what we see. Of course, you never know what you have until the drill results come in."

As for 2010, "We really see that there's probably going to be a requirement for another field season to do infill drilling, particularly."

Though the company was still compiling its figures for this year as of press time, in 2008, Sabina hired 12 Nunavummiut to work at the site, including four people from Cambridge Bay and eight people from Kugluktuk.

"It's a good opportunity to make some money and put some work in," said Miranda Atatahak, economic development officer for Kugluktuk.

"There's a lot people here that don't have jobs. We have a big unemployment rate here (22 per cent in 2006, according to the Nunavut Bureau of Statistics). Any chance that you can find a job and get busy, in my opinion, that's a good thing."