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In 1999 there are two operational mines in Nunavut, the Polaris
and Nanisivik mines. Zinc has the highest value of all the metals
produced totalling $267.8 million in 1998. Canada's total zinc production
was $1.5 billion in the same year.
Nunavut’s mineral potential is substantial, which is why
large and small companies have invested $112 million for prospecting
and exploration in the whole of the Northwest Territories in 1998
including $57 million in Nunavut. Gold, and more particularly diamonds,
are promising minerals. Over the past five years more than 15 potentially
economic diamond-bearing deposits have been discovered in Canada,
of which a few are in Nunavut.
However, the economic importance of the surface and underground resources
is already very significant, since in most Nunavut communities artisans
utilize certain types of rocks for traditional Inuit sculpture. In fact,
there are now a number of open quarries being exploited near villages.
Modern tools today allow Inuit artisans to use a greater variety of rocks
than before. Traditional rock types which are easier to sculpt and polish,
such as serpentinite, steatite, argillite and calcareous alabaster, and
other materials with a much higher hardness number, such as marble and
gabbro, are now regularly carved.
Through these two contributions, the mining industry will continue to
occupy an important place in the daily lives of a number of Nunavut communities. |
