KANGIQTUGAAPIK/CLYDE RIVER - Only one Inuit person worked at the site of Commander Resources and AngloGold Ashanti's Baffin Gold Project near Clyde River this summer, but the project manager says he wants to change that as the project moves ahead.

Solomonie Kusigak of Qikiqtarjuaq samples gold mineralization at Commander Resources and AngloGold Ashanti Baffin Gold Project near Clyde River this summer. - photo courtesy of Commander Resources

A total of 40 people worked at the site northeast of Clyde River, which Commander acquired in 2003 and where Commander has spent a total of approximately $14 million.

"We had one individual from Qikiqtarjuaq who worked with us," said Gord Davidson, project manager, of the company's $5.5 million exploration season. "This individual has been with us for a few of years. He's capable of doing a number of different things: prospecting, helping out around the camp, helping manage drill core.

"A lot of the reason that we didn't hire more is that a lot of the work we do is under contract to outside groups that bring in people

"In the future, we definitely want to involve the communities more and hire more local people."

Asked if Commander will encourage contractors to hire more Nunavummiut in the future, Davidson said, "With drilling companies, it's a little bit difficult since there is a little bit of training (required). This is something that we'll be looking at in the future."

As the manager of all exploration activity at the Meadowbank gold deposit near Baker Lake for Cumberland Resources at the time, Davidson saw as many as 30 per cent of the people in camp coming from the region.

Asked if Commander could achieve the same goal at the Baffin gold project, Davidson said, "Yeah, definitely. I think there's a few differences. That project north of Baker was much more advanced. There was a much longer field season. There was a lot more certainty that the project was going to grow as we moved forward.

"Now, with the Commander project on Baffin Island, we're still poking around. We're optimistic that there's something there, but we still haven't found the big deposit that we're looking for quite yet."

As Eric Norton, president and CEO of Commander Resources said, "This is early exploration still."

The strong price of gold definitely benefits gold producers, but for junior exploration companies like Commander – which has been helped by the promise of $20 million in exploration funding from its joint venture partner, the South Africa-based AngloGold Ashanti – it can still prove difficult to raise money for exploration efforts.

"It's expensive to set up a camp on Baffin Island," said Norton. "Where we could have been working in, say, Mexico or South America quite cheaply, Baffin Island is very expensive.

"That's one of the issues that we have to deal with all the time when we're trying to raise money. Money goes a lot further when we're working in Mexico than it does working in Nunavut."

But the Baffin gold project does have potential, with several promising targets within the 150 km property identified.

"It's a fairly high risk ... but there's a lot of potential in Nunavut, and so we'd like to be in early," said Norton.

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