NTI’s uranium partner plans 2015 Nunavut exploration program

A map showing the location of the Angilak uranium property, which is west of Rankin Inlet and south of Areva Resources’ proposed Kiggavik uranium project. The Nunavut Impact Review Board is planning to release on May 8 its report on the community hearings it conducted on the Kiggavik project in Rankin Inlet in March, according to executive director Ryan Barry. The Kivalliq Energy Corporation, which owns rights to the Angilak property, was formed in 2008 in partnership with the territorial land claim body, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., because some of the property is Inuit-owned land. (KIVALLIQ ENERGY CORPORATION MAP)

Kivalliq Energy Corp., a Vancouver-based uranium exploration company, is set to begin extensive exploratory drilling at its Angilak property this summer, said a May 6 company news release.

Preparation for the $1.5 million diamond-drilling program will begin in June, the news release said, at the 155,2800-hectare site located in the central Arctic, 350 kilometres west of Rankin Inlet and roughly 225 km south of Baker Lake and Areva’s proposed Kiggavik uranium mine.

The company plans to drill to a minimum of 1,000 metres in six to eight holes at a western location on the property called Dipole using diamond-drill rigs already on site.

“Discovering a second significant mineralized trend in the southwest portion of Angilak would confirm our belief that this large property hosts an important uranium district in Nunavut,” said Jeff Ward, Kivalliq’s president, in the news release.

A portion of the Angilak property — which is roughly 55 km east to west and 35 km north to south — is on Inuit-owned land and, as such, Kivalliq had to work out an agreement with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. to explore and develop the site.

Kivalliq Energy was formed in 2008 out of a deal signed between Kaminak Corp. and NTI. Under that deal, the company’s property was extended to include the Inuit-owned lands.

The project then became known under the new name “Angilak” which means “biggest,” in Inuktitut.

Under that deal, when and if the company gets to the mineral production stage, NTI can decide whether it wants “participating interest in the project,” or to collect royalties, according to company documents. Kivalliq is already paying advance royalties to NTI annually.

This year’s program follows a 2014 summer field season which consisted of collecting soil samples in search of “geochemical anomalies” to determine where best to drill this year.

They also did airborne geophysical surveys, according to a 2015 company work plan.

That plan also outlines the extensive work the company plans for the 2015 field season including soil sampling, drilling and geophysical surveying.

They also plan to collect baseline data, “to build an understanding of local and regional environmental attributes,” which will “increase in scope as work advances.”

That environmental data will include climate information, water quality and wildlife monitoring, the company says, where staff record animal observations in order to identify animals, and especially species at risk, which might frequent the area.

Staff are obliged to report wildlife sightings, the work plan says, and those incidents will be reported “immediately,” to the Kivalliq Inuit Association and Government of Nunavut wildlife biologists.