PAULATUK - The community of Paulatuk now has more control over exploration activities happening in potentially mineral-rich lands surrounding the Beaufort Delta hamlet.

Gilbert Thrasher Sr., chair of Paulatuk Community Corporation. - NNSL file photo

The Paulatuk Development Corporation (PDC) -- a unit of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation -- owns an exploration camp outside of the community that currently employs about eight local residents.

The PDC bought the camp using $485,000 in federal funding from the GNWT and the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency and has leased it to exploration company Darnley Bay Resources Ltd.

Darnley Bay has ceased operation of the camp until drilling resumes in February, but since early this fall the company has been using the camp to house employees and equipment to drill for precious metals thought to exist near the community, an area in which the Geological Survey of Canada has assigned a moderate to high rating for possible mineral development of nickel, copper, platinum and gold. Ownership of the camp means more power to residents, said PDC and Paulatuk Community Corporation Chair Gilbert Thrasher Sr.

"The partnership has opened doors for job opportunities and it opened doors to training," he said. "We get a lot of local employment from this and we're also waiting to hear about drilling training," Thrasher added, saying the monthly lease payment the community receives "helps quite a bit."

Residents working at the camp have been trained in environmental/wildlife monitoring as well as firearm safety and are scheduled to complete certification for Class 7 driver's licences. Although Thrasher said the community's agreement with Darnley Bay Resources gives the company priority to lease the camp during its exploration activities, he explained the camp is mobile and the PDC hopes to use it in the off-season to promote on-the-land cultural activities with young people.

"That's one of the things we'd like to focus on," he said. "There's a lot of (potential for) youth and language programs."

Currently the camp is stationed about a 15-minute helicopter ride from Paulatuk. Within the funding agreement, the PDC has said it will also hire a consultant to plan for camp-use activities.

Stephen Reford, president and CEO of Darnley Bay Resources Ltd., said the company paid for the camp before the federal funding came through and will now be reimbursed, meaning business operations won't change save for the monthly lease payments. He agreed that the PDC's ownership of the camp is "absolutely" a win-win situation for the community.

"We just provided a bridge financing until the federal government got the whole program in place," he said.

An added bonus of community-ownership of the camp is that residents don't have to worry about the chance of improper cleanup when exploration activities shut down, Thrasher said.

"When it's shut down time we have the environmental or wildlife monitor out there making sure that everything's cleaned up and put away and that there's not any sort of spill."

The ownership agreement, formally announced earlier this month, is the first of its kind between two levels of government, the community and industry.

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