Resource World Magazine

38 www.resourceworld.com O C T O B E R / N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 7 mine in the Arctic. It was located near the community of Arctic Bay, 750 km north of the Arctic Circle and boasted its own airport. In a 2012 report, Teck Resources Ltd. [TECK.B-TSX; TECK-NYSE] said the cold and dry climate presented unique chal- lenges during each stage of the Polaris life cycle, but also created opportunities to implement innovative approaches to sus- tainability, including the introduction of modular construction to the north. "The mine's maintenance shop, power plant and concentrator were built as sepa- rate modules on barges and shipped intact to the site, thereby minimizing the impact of construction on the surrounding envi- ronment,'' Teck said in a report. More recently, Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. [AEM-TSX, NYSE) has been laying a foundation stone for the burgeoning arctic mineral industry by developing new gold mines in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut, about 300 km west of Hudson Bay. They include Meadowbank, which produced 312,214 ounces of gold and 221,000 ounces of silver in 2016; and Meliadine which is scheduled for start-up in the third quarter of 2019. The Toronto-based gold mining giant is also bringing on line the Amaruq satel- lite deposit near the Meadowbank Mine. Production at Amaruq is set to begin in 2019. Output from the Arctic will help Agnico-Eagle to sustainably grow its pro- duction to 2 million ounces annually from 1.6 million ounces based on its currently approved pipeline, analysts at Scotiabank said in a recent report. Industry officials say the presence of a major gold producer like Agnico speaks to the advantages of working in this area. Ullrich said it took only five years for Agnico to get to the gold pouring stage at Meadowbank. "There are very few juris- dictions in the world where you can get a mine up and running that fast,'' he said. Support from Aboriginal businesses such as Tli Cho Logistics is also a key ben- efit, industry officials say. "You are not seeing First Nations getting in the way,'' said Byron. "You see them supporting what you are doing." In Nunavut, dealing with Aboriginal communities has been simplified by the fact that the territory was created out of a land claims settlement. "That makes life very easy because you know where you stand and you know who you need to talk to,'' Ullrich said. "It is a fairly well documented and regulated sys- tem if you go through the process.'' Still, the short field season remains a challenge. In Nunavut, for example, heli- copters required to do the surveying work that is needed for drill target selection are limited by bad weather (low cloud/fog, freezing rain, high wind) and daylight. "On Somerset we have about two or three good months where this type of work is easily accomplished,'' Ullrich said. Using helicopters for surveying work outside of that window tends to be a risky proposition when companies are paying US $1,300 an hour for helicopter support. Once exploration companies have made a discovery and move into delineation drill- ing, they no longer need the mobility of a helicopter and can set up a semi-permanent camp near the drilling area, using trucks or track-mounted equipment to move around. To take this to the next stage, when an ore- body is delineated, companies can head into mining. Both Polaris and Nanisivik have demonstrated that permanent year-round camps are viable on regions like Somerset Island and even farther north. Following the closure of the Cantung Mine and suspension of production at the Snap Lake diamond mine in 2015, there are six operating mines in the Nunavut and Northwest Territories region. Some of those mines were decades in the making. Baffinland Iron Mines Corp.'s Mary River Iron Mine on North Baffin Island became operational in 2015, with the first shipments of iron ore to Europe. But its development can be traced back to 1962 when high-grade ore was first noted by Murray Watts and Ron Sheardown. At the time, they were conducting an airborne reconnaissance project, prospecting across central and northern Baffin Island. Mary Hill ranks as one of the rich- est iron ore deposits ever discovered. Baffinland Iron Mines is held jointly by steel-making giant ArcelorMittal (MT-XNYS) and Nunavut Iron Ore. Mawson Resources Ltd. [MAW-TSX; MWSNF-OTC; MXR-FSE] is focusing on their two flagship properties, the 100%- owned combined Rajapalot and Rompas exploration projects just south of the Arctic Circle in Finnish Lapland. Disseminated and nuggetty high-grade gold has been discovered on a camp-scale area approaching 10 x 10 km. Currently, the company has been exploring high-grade boulder fields. A total of 160 boulders and outcrops with

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