Peregrine aims for squeaky-clean diamond camp

Rose Machmer of Iqaluit assists camp cook Terrapin Harvich in the kitchen of Peregrine Diamond Ltd.’s Aurora exploration camp. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

An equipment shed at Peregrine Diamond Ltd.’s Aurora exploration camp flies the Canadian and Nunavut flags. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

Accommodations at Peregrine Diamond Ltd.’s Aurora exploration camp aren’t luxurious— each tent holds four simple beds, but there are heaters and reading lights. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

Peregrine Diamond Ltd.’s project manager Alan O’Connor and company president Brooke Clements talk about the future of the company’s Chidliak property in the kitchen of the Aurora camp. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

Levi Papatsie of Iqaluit, seen here on the job at Peregrine Diamond Ltd.’s Aurora exploration camp, winds a hose used for pumping water to the camp site. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

You wouldn’t normally expect to see Rose Machmer of Iqaluit walking towards you 120 kilometres outside of Iqaluit or spot Levi Papatsie, also of Iqaluit, sitting in the middle of a coiled water-hose.

They’re part of a group of about five local workers at the Aurora exploration camp that Peregrine Diamonds Ltd. operates on the Hall Peninsula northeast of Iqaluit.

There, Machmer works in the kitchen as an assistant, while 20-year-old Papatsie, a jack-of-all-trades around the camp, can be found pumping water to the camp or incinerating trash.

Last summer, about 35 people from Pangnirtung and Iqaluit worked in exploration camps on Peregrine’s huge, 8,500 sq-km. Chidliak property.

They worked in jobs like the ones Machmer and Papatsie hold this year, and also as assistant geo-techicians, prospector’s assistants and bear monitors.

Hiring locally and training local residents for jobs in the exploration camps is a priority for Peregrine, company president Brooke Clements said during a recent fly-in visit from Iqaluit to the Aurora camp.

Clements travelled this past February from Peregrine’s office in Vancouver to Pangnirtung and Iqaluit to tell people about the exploration project and rally interest for jobs at the three camps now in operation.

At the company’s camps, here’s the home away from home during their two-week work rotations: a Winterhaven tent, furnished with four simple beds.

After the end of their long days, they can relax in a recreation tent, equipped with a flat-screen television and a computer linked by satellite to the internet.

During breaks, workers congregate in the cozy kitchen, which serves three meals a day. A typical Friday night meal: Hawaiian pizza loaded with pineapple, ham and cheese.

But drugs, alcohol, after-hours noise or harassment are nowhere to be found.

“Everyone is together here in a harsh environment and people have to accommodate each other,” said Alan O’Connor, project manager at the Aurora camp.

The camp, like the other two on the Chidliak property, puts a heavy emphasis on safety — you can’t smoke in your tent and you can’t bring food back to your tent that might attract polar bears.

All firearms except the rifle used by the polar bear monitor remain locked up.

Safety is key, said O’Connor, who makes sure new workers receive an orientation when they arrive, so they know what to expect at all times.

In case of injuries, there’s a medic in the camp — and plans are in place to deal with fires or other emergencies.

Keeping the environment clean means smokers can’t throw a cigarette butt away outside, but must throw it into a trash container.

A low-emission-producing incinerator turns all burnable waste at the camp – including human waste from the toilets — into a weekly bag of ash, which is then shipped out.

“This really is the right thing to do,” said Clements of his company’s push to protect the environment.

In 2011, Peregrine, and its joint venture partner BHP Billiton plan to spend $17.7 million on diamond exploration at Chidliak.

Using information from last year’s exploration program, teams plan to look for new kimberlites, which are volcanic rock formations that often contain diamonds.

They’ll also drill and take samples from known kimberlites that appear to have economic potential.

Peregrine first started exploration there in 2005.

And, within 10 years, depending on whether the exploration results “can put meat on the table” and the project passes all permitting hurdles, there may be a diamond mine as large or larger than BHP’s Ekati diamond mine in the Northwest Territories, Clements said.

A deep sea port in Iqaluit and a road inland to the site could follow.

Chidliak’s location, close to Iqaluit and 180-km south of Pangnirtung, is a plus for any future mine.

A diamond mine there could see Iqaluit mushrooming into a Yellowknife-sized hub.

“There’s room here to grow and do it in a proper manner,” said Clements, who said he wants local people placed in top management positions.

But, for now, that’s all in the future.

Few exploration projects ever become mines, Clements said, usually because the economics don’t work.

There’s also the fear that a mine can hit a wall, like Jericho’s Tahera mine, where a rising Canadian dollar and bad weather quickly spelled failure.

So the main impact of Peregrine’s exploration activities and similar exploration projects across Nunavut now lies in the money they pump into the territory’s economy through exploration: this is expected to reach $322 million this year, up from $263 million in 2010.

The money Peregrine and BHP are spending on exploration in 2011 puts them into the middle-to-lower range of what some other exploration and mining companies plan to spend.

Sabina Cold and Silver Corp. plans to spend $52 million on exploration in 2011, while Newmont Mining Corp. will spend $300 million at its Hope Bay properties.

More questions? These companies— and many others now active in Nunavut mining and exploration— will attend the mining symposium in Iqaluit this week.

Its trade show at the Frobisher Inn will be open to the public Wednesday afternoon, April 6.