MINER DETAILS — The best to come for the North

As Russian myth goes, the region of Yakutia in northeast Siberia is so cold that diamonds and gold slipped from the creator’s hands when he shaped the land. At least that’s how locals explain the rich mineral deposits that have made this region, with its towns built on permafrost, the foremost diamond mining centre of Russia since the 1950s.

A similar myth may soon apply to parts of the Northwest Territories if ongoing exploration confirms newly indicated potential for diamond deposits. This would be an exciting development for a region which already hosts some of Canada’s most significant gold and base metal mines.

The list includes the Con, Giant and Lupin gold mines, and rich base metal deposits at Nanisivik, Polaris and mined-out Pine Point, to name the most obvious. But the North’s geological endowment is getting attention these days for other reasons: the discovery of gem-quality diamonds by Dia Met Minerals and BHP Minerals Canada, plans to advance the Izok Lake copper-zinc deposit and talk of building a new shipping port on the Arctic coast. All this, particularly diamond fever, has sparked a new wave of interest in prospecting, a development that came to the attention of the territorial government which plans to spend $340,000 during five years on its “prospectors development initiative.”

As a first step, it will deliver a number of prospector training courses across the Territories. Courses have already started in Rae, and will take place in Rankin Inlet, Coppermine and possibly Iqaluit this year. Tom Hoefer of the Chamber of Mines says prospectors are essential if exploration is to be effective in this vast territory. And he predicts the odds of finding significant deposits will improve

as the number of prospectors increases. And who better to train than northerners, including natives, already intimately familiar with the land. The initiative includes a program whereby graduates of a prospecting course, or prospectors with several years of field and claim-staking experience, can apply for a grubstake to explore properties in the North.

This idea deserves an unreserved thumbs-up for the federal and territorial governments funding the program. For on the heels of the discoveries bound to be made by this eager group of new prospectors will be new mines, new jobs and new business opportunities.

For the North, the best may be yet to come.