Mining in the great white east

 With 245,000 mining claims staked, 21 percent of Labrador faces an uncertain future. Labrador is a prime destination for unspoiled, remote, rugged rivers such as the Notakwanon. But these rivers may lose some of their attraction because of exploration and mining unless preservation of the environment is made a priority.
 
 A company called Diamond Fields was formed in 1993 to explore for diamonds in Labrador. They never found diamonds, but from the air, two company prospectors saw a rusty-colored streak in a hillside rock outcropping. Test drilling in late 1994 confirmed the find, reputed to be the richest known copper/nickel/cobalt discovery in the world, and its size is still being defined. The area is known as Voisey Bay, and it is only 30 miles north of the Notakwanon river mouth at Merrifield Bay, between Nain and Davis Inlet.
 
 Geologists think the deposit was created when the earth's tectonic plates separated and molten magma rose from its core. They believe it is likely that there are other deposits in the area. Word of the discovery spread rapidly, and exploration is proceeding at an unprecedented pace. More than 245,000 claims, covering 21 percent of Labrador, have been staked for mineral rights since the find.
 
 Cartaway Resources has staked the largest land package of claims (29,720) in all of Labrador. Drilling is being conducted near many lakes and rivers in northern Labrador. Cirque lands (south of Okak Bay), Cabot Lake, Ikadlivik Brook, Notakwanon River, and Kyfanan Lake are being explored or drilled.

Photo By Elliot Merrick

 
 Airborne surveys of the Notakwanon River have identified three areas with mineral potential, and geophysical surveying is scheduled for 1996. Cartaway says that they plan to drill four holes at the Notakwanon River.

Photo By Elliot Merrick

 
 Production in Voisey Bay is expected in 1998. There is an ongoing claims dispute over the land by the Innu and Inuit of the region. Both groups have laid claim to the land where they have fished and hunted caribou for generations.
 
 Newfoundland and Labrador premier Brian Tobin said he hopes Voisey Bay will be a model for the rest of the country when it comes to developers and governments dealing with aboriginal people. The government has not been prepared to approve the Innu request to delay exploration activities in order to collect baseline environmental data or to conduct a full environmental review of the impact of exploration and development activities.
 
 Peter Penashue, president of the Innu Nation, spoke at a recent Aboriginal People and Mining Conference. "We will not tolerate the hit-and-run antics demonstrated by companies like Galactic Resources, which declared bankruptcy after poisoning a river in Colorado, leaving the American taxpayer to foot a hundred-million-dollar clean-up bill. As aboriginal leaders, we need to remember that the decisions we make today will affect not only us but our children and their children." One of the large shareholders in Diamond Fields was head of Galactic Resources.
 
 Another concern of many people is the increasingly crowded airspace in what purports to be a wilderness. Increased exploratory helicopter flying related to the Voisey Bay find has been added to the numerous NATO jets that have been using northern Labrador as a training site for 17 years. Those flights have long been opposed by the Innu people. The Department of National Defense have insisted that studies have never shown the flights to have the negative effect on wildlife which was suggested. For many years canoeists have also been shocked by the sudden sound barrier explosion of a low-flying jet.