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Home , Akpatok Island, Baker Lake (Nunavut), Belcher Islands, Boatswain Bay, Bowman Bay (Nunavut), Bylot Island

OVERVIEW 2017 MINERAL EXPLORATION, MINING & GEOSCIENCE QIKIQTANI REGION OCEAN

OCÉAN ARCTIQUE LEGEND Commodity (Number of Properties)

Base Metals, Active (2) Mine, Active (1) Diamonds, Active (2) Quttinirpaaq NP Mine, Inactive (2) Gold, Active (1)

Areas with Surface and/or Subsurface Restrictions 10 CPMA Caribou Protection Measures Apply ISLANDS Belcher MBS Migratory Bird Sanctuary NP National Park

Nares Strait Islands NWA National Wildlife Area - ÉLISABETH Nansen TP Territorial Park WP Wildlife Preserve WS Wildlife Sanctuary

Sound ELLESMERE ELIZABETHREINE ISLAND Owned Lands (Fee simple title) Kane Surface Only LA Agassiz Basin Surface and Subsurface Ice Cap QUEEN Geological Mapping Programs -Nunavut Geoscience Office ÎLES DE Kalaallit Nunaat Boundaries Peary Channel Müller GREENLAND/GROENLAND NLCA1 Nunavut Settlement Area Ice CapAXEL Nunavut Regions HEIBERG ÎLE (DENMARK/DANEMARK) NILCA 2 Nunavik Settlement Area ISLAND WP Provincial / Territorial D'ELLESMERE James Bay Transportation Routes Massey Sound WS Tote Road / Proposed Rail Line

Hassel Sound Prince of Wales Proposed Rail Line Prince Ellef Ringnes Icefield Gustaf Adolf Amund Meliadine Road Island Proposed Nunavut to Manitoba Road Sea Ringnes Akimiski 1 Akimiski I. NLCA The Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Island Island MBS 2 NILCA The Nunavik Inuit Land Claims Agreement Baie James MBS ISLANDSHazen Strait Belcher Channel

Byam Martin Channel

Penny S

Grise Fiord Nirjutiqavvik 025 50100150 NWA Kilometres Hannah Bay MBS Qausuittuq trait NP Wellington Channel BATHURST ELVILLE ISLAND Pass Devon NWA ISLAND Ice Cap Cornwallis Island BAIE DE BAFFIN Resolute

Melville Sound P A R R Y C H A N N E L Prince MBS Seal Bylot Island Stefansson 102 Storm MBS 101 Mine Sirmilik NP Island Admiralty Inlet SOMERSET Borden M'Clintock ISLAND Storkerson Sirmilik Milne Inlet NP Peninsula Peninsula PRINCE OF WALES Brodeur Clyde River ISLAND !

Channel Peninsula 401 2 BAFFIN 8 Niginganiq NWA Détroit de Davis

Gulf of Boothia ÎLE Barnes AND 3 Qikiqtani Steensby Inlet Ice Cap Boothia DE Qaqulluit NWA Akpait NWA ! Collinson Peninsula ISLAND Kitikmeot Baffin Gold Peninsula 306 BAFFIN ttuq NP Auyui CUMBERLAND Penny PENINSULA Ice Cap King Hall Beach t William Rasmussen Prince Island ! Charles Basin MELVILLE Island Queen Maud GulfStoris Passage Committee Mel Nettilling Wales I. Bay PENINSULA 206 FOXE ARCTIC CIRCLE DeweyMBS Soper Queen Maud Gulf BASIN CERCLE ARCTIQUE MBS Bowman Chidliak Bay WS HALL PENINSULA201 nlet Sanikiluaq T Lake 10 o ! Belcher River Ukkusiksalik NP Foxe Channel 9 5 IslandsBack 4 7 Beverly CPMA META Katannilik TP INCOGNITA M ! PENINSULA Cape Dorset Markham Bay Aberdeen SOUTHAMPTON Big Thelon WS Lake Kivalliq ISLAND MBS Island Resolutionland Is Harry Détroit d' Hudson Baker Lake River Gibbons Charles MBS Island River L James Bay WP Dubawnt Coats JamesLake Bay 6River Island Mansel Twin Islands WS Qamanirjuaq Island t CPMA Yathkyed 062.5 125 250 375 500 Baie d'Ungava Akimiski Kazan Lake Q Dubawn Akimiski I. Whale Cove Island MBS Kilometres North Henik Baie James Lake SouthBoatswain Henik Bay MBS Lake N ! Qikiqtani Region

Qikiqtani Region The Qikiqtani region includes and the other islands The Mary River iron mine, owned by Baffinland Iron Mines of the Canadian , the northern part of the Melville Corporation and located near the community of Pond Inlet, Peninsula, and the . Some of the oldest rocks in has been in production since late 2014. In 2017, the company Canada are found in this region. They are part of the Canadian transported an estimated 4.1 million tonnes of iron ore to the Shield and are exposed on Baffin Island and the . Milne Inlet port by truck, using the Milne Inlet tote road. The ore They also form the bedrock of eastern Devon Island and parts was stockpiled at the port and shipped in the months of August of . These granitic, volcanic, sedimentary and through October during the open water season. The company metamorphic rocks formed during the Precambrian period, the is seeking an amendment, termed the Phase 2 Development time from when the Earth was formed (about 4.5 billion years ago) proposal, to its project certificate. If approved, this proposal would until the beginning of the Cambrian period (540 million years ago). allow the construction of additional infrastructure at the Milne The metamorphic rocks in the region are highly folded, faulted, and Inlet port including a larger ore-loading dock that would triple the deeply eroded. Spectacular folds, large enough to be seen from amount of ore that could be shipped at the port during the open space, outline the present-day shape of the Belcher Islands. water season. The company is also seeking to construct a rail line along the tote road to transport an increased volume In the west and the far north, the Qikiqtani region is made up of ore to the port. of thick Paleozoic (540-252 million year old) sedimentary rock, originally deposited on an ancient seabed and continental margin. Holdings Ltd. ran a summer exploration program on The layers of rocks occasionally contain coal seams and preserve the Storm property in 2017, including surface reconnaissance and many types of fossils, from marine shells and fish to terrestrial a property-wide geophysical survey. This work follows on results animals and plants. These gently folded and tilted rocks are generated through the $4 million 2016 drilling and regional soil- exposed on many of the Arctic islands and rise up to form the sampling programs. The results from this work were released in rugged mountains of Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg Islands. The January 2017 and included the discovery of new soil anomalies, widening of the ocean basin between Greenland and Nunavut is, as well as significant findings of copper and silver mineralization in part, responsible for this mountain building and is one of the from drilling. In December, the company announced an initial most recent tectonic events in Nunavut’s geologic history. inferred resource for the Seal property of 1.006 million tonnes (Mt) of zinc ore. Tens of thousands of years ago, thick ice sheets covered the entire territory and created the steep-walled fiords located on eastern Baffin Peregrine Diamonds Ltd. completed a work program in September Island and Ellesmere Island, where glaciers and ice caps remain to 2017 on its 100 per cent owned Chidliak project on southern Baffin this day. Minerals left behind by the glaciers’ erosion of the landscape Island. The program focused on drilling at the CH-6 kimberlite, as well help prospectors and geologists locate possible metal or diamond as geotechnical drilling, environmental baseline studies, and follow-up deposits. The Qikiqtani region hosts many kinds of mineral deposits work to support the preliminary economic assessment (PEA) of and occurrences, including iron, gold, nickel, copper, lead, zinc, Chidliak released in 2016. A total of 9.32 carats in 213 diamonds platinum, and diamonds. Clues about the location of these deposits greater than 0.85 mm were recovered from the 1,936 kilograms (kg) can be found using ground or airborne geophysical surveys, by of kimberlite material sampled in the 2017 program. Information prospecting for minerals that are associated with certain types of gathered from this season’s field results will be used to update deposits, or by looking for rusty weathered sulphide-rich rocks. the PEA and further refine the design of the open pit mine plan.

Number Project Operator Status Base Metals 101 Storm Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. Active 104 Seal Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. Active Diamonds 201 Chidliak Peregrine Diamonds Ltd. Active 206 Mel North Arrow Minerals Inc. Active Gold 306 Baffin Gold Kivalliq Energy Corporation Active Iron 401 Mary River Mine Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation Active

Please refer to the map on the cover for the location of active projects in the Qikiqtani region. Bold text signifies a major project. Qikiqtani Region

Prospecting on the Storm Copper property. Courtesy of Aston Bay Holdings Ltd

At the Mel project on the Melville Peninsula, North Arrow Minerals Other Geological Programs And Studies Ltd. announced the discovery of diamondiferous kimberlite. The Qirnirktaaluk Project, discovery, named ML-8, was found at the termination of a well- Canada Nunavut Geoscience Office (CNGO) defined train of kimberlite indicator minerals, and consists of This project is taking place on the northwestern portion of Baffin kimberlite material up to 0.5 m in size. A 62.1-kg sample taken Island, with the goal of finishing bedrock and surficial geology map from kimberlite boulders found at the surface produced coverage of the island. The project is expected to be completed by 23 diamonds larger than 0.106 mm in size. 2020, and will cover about 40,000 km2. In 2017, a regional airborne The Baffin Gold property was acquired from Commander geophysical survey was done to provide some basic geological Resources Ltd. by Kivalliq Energy Corporation in May 2017. information before the mapping begins in 2018. The CNGO held Kivalliq Energy’s summer field program included grab and channel meetings in Arctic Bay and Igloolik in early 2017 to introduce the sampling, till geochemistry, and drone-acquired high-resolution project to those communities and to engage with local residents imagery of new and existing targets. The company discovered and hunters who have knowledge of the area. gold mineralization in a surface sample from the Malrok target and in a channel sample at the Kanosak targets. Oil and gas studies, Baffin Bay and eastern Arctic Islands (CNGO) The Basin, located offshore of Baffin Island, north of Clyde River, has potential to be an economic source of oil and gas. Geological knowledge of the area is limited, so further research is being done to determine the source of oil seeps in the Qikiqtani Region

Scott Inlet area. Results, to date, suggest that younger, Mesozoic- Glossary of Terminology age sedimentary rocks of Scott Inlet are not the source of the oil Deposit – a natural accumulation of a metal, gemstone or other seeps and that they may originate from older, deeper Paleozoic- valuable mineral substance, which may be economically viable but age sedimentary rocks. whose characteristics require more detailed study to be classified as a resource. Hudson Ungava Project (CNGO) Drilling – the extraction of rock or surface material using a rotary , located south of Baffin Island in Ungava Bay, drill. Drills can extract cylinder-shaped cores of rock using a has exposed rocks of Paleozoic age that may make good source synthetic diamond drill bit, or chips of rock using a jackhammer- rocks for oil and gas. As part of the final season of this program, type drill bit. Geologists study these cores and chips to better geologists from CNGO are studying those rocks to see how they understand the underground geological structure of an area and match up with rocks of the same age in and Foxe determine the presence or absence of ore minerals. Basin, using geochemical studies and other methods. Exploration – the process of searching for mineral deposits. Paleozoic Stratigraphy, (CNGO) Geochemical survey – the chemical analysis, in a laboratory, of The rocks of the Boothia Peninsula are believed to be similar soil, rock, or water from a defined area to identify unusually high to those found on the islands of the high Arctic. In 2017, the concentrations of chemical elements that indicate the presence CNGO participated in a larger Natural Resources Canada study, of economic metals or gemstones. Also known as geochemical the GEM 2 Boothia-Somerset Integrated Geoscience Project. exploration. CNGO’s work consisted of sampling Ordovician-age carbonate Geophysical survey – the collection of information associated with rocks (485-444 million years old) to provide data on age, rock unit, bedrock using sensors that record electric, magnetic, or other and oil and gas source rock potential. kinds of data. The survey can be conducted from the air or the ground and is used by mineral exploration companies to detect Nunavut Prospectors Program and Prospector Development physical properties of rocks such as magnetism, gravity or The Government of Nunavut’s Economic Development and conductivity. Transportation department held its Introduction to Prospecting Prospecting – the search for outcrops or surface exposures Course in Iqaluit in 2017. The course introduces participants of mineral deposits with economic potential. to basic prospecting skills and provides an introduction to Resource – a published estimate of the amount of naturally geological concepts. To date, more than 1,200 Nunavummiut occurring metal, gemstone, or other mineral substance in a have successfully completed the course. Graduates of the course mineral deposit that could allow for economic extraction of the may qualify for financial and technical assistance through the material in the future. Classifying a resource within a deposit Nunavut Prospectors Program to pursue their own projects, and indicates there is moderate confidence in the quantity and some find opportunities to work as field assistants on mineral quality of ore in that deposit. Specific legal criteria exist exploration projects. This course is planned to be held in to classify a deposit as a resource. Hall Beach and Sanikiluaq in 2018.

Canada-Nunavut Government of Nunavut Government of Canada Nunavut Tunngavik Geoscience Office Department of Economic Indigenous and Incorporated 867.975.4412 Development and Transportation Northern Affairs Canada Lands, Minerals, Oil and Gas 4 867.979.0708 Minerals and Petroleum Resources Division Resource Management Directorate 867.983.5600 [email protected] 867.975.7800 867.975.4500 4 867.983.5624 www.cngo.ca 4 867.975.7870 4 867.975.4276 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] www.ntilands.tunngavik.com www.edt.gov.nu.ca [email protected] www.edt.gov.nu.ca

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