November 6, 1998

Looking for zinc: Nunavik's black marble

Thanks to money contributed by the Quebec provincial government, Nunavik residents are being trained as prospectors.

JANE GEORGE
Nunatsiaq News

KUUJJUAQ — Spend days looking at rocks is painstaking work, but for prospectors and mining companies hoping to stake out a rich mineral find in Nunavik, it's well worth the effort.

Ken Jararuse and Charlie Etok spent four weeks this season out on the land near Kangiqsualujjuaq, exploring for the mining company, Noranda. They were looking for zinc, or as Etok calls it, "black marble."

Zinc is widely used in the manufacture of galvanized metal siding and fences.

The prospectors gathered rocks, charted their location, took samples, and used such specialized equipment as a beep mat to help recognize promising deposits.

Etok and Jararuse practiced many tricks of the prospecting trade. They had learned them during a 60-hour crash course on prospecting held this past summer in Kangiqsualujjuaq.

These two prospectors were part of a team of four that the Kuujjuaq-based Nunavik Mining and Exploration Fund lent to Noranda Inc.

Nunavik's mining fund received $900,000 from the Quebec government last April to build up more regional participation in mineral exploration. Some of this money has been used to train and equip local prospectors. The fund's goal is to form a junior mining company, owned and run by Inuit.

The exploration effort with Noranda could eventually lead to a more formal joint-venture if the results from rocks gathered this summer are encouraging.

"We're not just spending money," said Adel Yassa of the Kativik Regional Development Council. "We're supposed to use it in a way that it will remain after three years."

Yassa will try to recruit more future interest from mining companies by participating in industry conferences.

And the release of Quebec government's geological survey of land around Umiujaq, Kangiqsujjuaq, Kangirsuk and Kuujjuaq later this month should also generate interest in the region's mineral potential.

During the past season, teams from Falconbridge Ltd. and SOQUEM, the Quebec government's mining corporation, explored from Puvirnituq to Kangirsuk.

Noranda plans to return next year to take a second look at the region south of Kuujjuaq.

Gino Roger, who works with Noranda, said that the mining company was very satisfied with the prospecting team from Kangiqsualujjuaq, although costs associated with any mineral exploration in Nunavik are "astronomical."

According to Roger, the potential for zinc deposits is "very good". The find of a large deposit could eventually lead to the development of a mine similar to that run by Cominco in Red Dog, Alaska, which employs many North Slope Inupiat.

"We think that there's a good chance that we will find something," Roger said.