Dubai miners set sights on Aupaluk iron deposits

Aupaluk, Nunavik’s tiniest community, may someday have a satellite city of 10,000 next door.

Delegates at Makivik Corporation’s annual meeting last month learned that mining interests from the United Arab Emirates are encouraging residents of Aupaluk to dream of a mega-mine employing 10,000 workers.

The mine’s workforce would rival the entire population of Nunavik in number, and be nearly 1,000 times larger than Aupaluk.

Davidee Angutinguak, the mayor of Aupaluk, confirmed that people from Dubai in the U.A.E. hold claims to the property, which contains a large iron ore deposit near Aupaluk. He said they are serious about pursuing development of a mine there, but there was nothing “official” to report yet.

“They already know the ore is there, and they’re waiting for the price to come up,” Angutinguak said.

The mine near Aupaluk will not move ahead without the agreement of the community, he said.

The Canadian company fronting the group in Dubai is called Oceanic Iron Ores – a company that is not listed on the stock exchange, does not pop up on any Internet search engines, and could not be located by the key mining industry newspaper, Northern Miner.

This means that Oceanic is likely a new company and is privately owned.

Geologist Mel de Quadros works for Oceanic, according to a business card handed to a Nunavik Mineral Exploration Fund staffer last year.

De Quadros was reached at a Toronto telephone number, but deferred detailed comment to his boss, Peter Sheridan, who could not be reached at the number provided to Nunatsiaq News.

De Quadros did say that “billions” of tonnes of iron ore lie near the community of Aupaluk – it’s just a question of how to get at it economically.

Aupaluk is located at the northern reaches of the Labrador Trough, which is so rich in iron deposits that the presence of iron in the soil is visible even to the untrained eye. The meaning of Aupaluk’s name in Inuttitut refers to the reddish colour of its soil.

Globally, iron is the most used of all metals. Its relatively low cost and high strength make it indispensable, especially in vehicles, the hulls of large ships, and structural components for buildings. Steel is the best-known alloy derived from iron.

The price of a pound of iron ore has doubled since 2003 and now stands at about $65 U.S. It’s expected to rise even higher.

As the demand for iron and other metals increases, projects on many known deposits in the North, which couldn’t be economically mined in the past, have now been dusted off and are being examined again.

Another company, Consolidated Thompson-Lundmark Gold Mines Ltd., said last month that it intends to open a major new iron mine in northern Quebec by late 2008.

The project, at Bloom Lake on the south end of the Labrador Trough near Fermont, would probably be the lowest-cost iron ore mine in Canada. That’s because Bloom Lake is near existing mines, and the region already has major infrastructure, including hydro electricity and nearby rail lines.

Meanwhile, the demand for iron is high in the booming Middle East economy. According to the Metal Bulletin Research site, the Middle East region, which includes Dubai, is home to one of “the most vibrant and fastest growing steel industries in the world.”

Aupaluk iron has a past

In the 1960s, an iron mine closed down not far from the location of the original community of Aupaluk.

But, during negotiations leading up to the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement in 1975, Quebec wanted to reserve the mine site as “category three” lands, where there could be mining under the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, and Inuit living in “Old Aupaluk” were encouraged to move to the site of the present-day community.

“They said, look, it’s nice over there. They actually promised Aupaluk that it would become the administrative and transportation center of Nunavik,” says an Internet blog entry from an Aupaluk resident.

Evidence of this mine still exists near Aupaluk – and last year’s Cruise North also helped clean the abandoned mine site up a bit.

The project involved the removal by volunteers of more than 100 rusting fuel drums, some partly full, as well as numerous propane tanks and truck batteries. The operation earned the company an award from the CIBC for “good entrepreneurship.”

Adamie Alaku, Makivik Corporation’s vice-president for economic affairs, said a similar visit to clean up the mine is scheduled in 2006 at the end of the Cruise North’s season.

Cruise North is currently developing a three-year plan involving annual visits to Aupaluk that would see the site completely cleaned and restored.