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| August 21, 2014 --- Vol. 08, No. 34 | August 2014
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Nunavut
FINANCE – WPC Resources Inc. Aug. 20 said it has closed a first tranche of its previously announced non-brokered private placement for 7,382,250 units at C5cents per unit for total gross proceeds of C$369,112.50. Each unit consists of one common share and one two-year warrant. Each warrant will be exercisable for one common share at C10 cents during the whole term of the warrant. The shares and any warrant shares are subject to a four-month hold period expiring on Dec.19. Finders’ fees have been paid consisting of C$15,200 and 380,000 finders’ warrants exercisable for common shares for a period of one year at C10 cents per share. WPC also reported that due to the strength of the participation and subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval, the offering will be expanded from 10 million units to 22 million units for gross proceeds of up to C$1 million. Finder’s fees, in accordance with TSX.V policies, may be paid on some portions of the financing. The final tranche of the financing is expected to close on or around Aug. 29. Proceeds from this financing are being used to start initial exploration programs on the Ulu gold property and Hood River gold project (which began on Aug. 20) in Nunavut and for general corporate purposes.
DIAMONDS – North Arrow Minerals Inc. Aug. 18 reported the completion of the sample collection phase of the bulk sampling program at the Qilalugaq diamond project located near the hamlet of Repulse Bay (Naujaat), Nunavut. The intent of the program is to recover a diamond parcel of approximately 500 carats for the purpose of determining an initial value estimate for the diamonds in the Q1-4 kimberlite. North Arrow is funding the bulk sampling program as part of an option agreement with Stornoway Diamond Corp. A total of 1,688 mega-bags of kimberlite have been collected from the Q1-4 kimberlite, and transported approximately nine kilometers (six miles) to the company’s sample laydown site in Repulse Bay. The final field sample weight is being determined but will exceed the targeted 1,500 metric tons. The sample was collected from two surface trenches which are currently undergoing final mapping and data collection prior to reclamation. The sample is being transported to Repulse Bay and processing is expected to begin in early October. The sample will be processed for the recovery of commercial sized (larger than 0.85 millimeter) diamonds and the resulting diamond parcel will be used to better determine diamond content, size distribution, diamond parcel value and to establish whether or not fancy yellow diamonds persist into the larger diamond sizes. North Arrow is currently working to earn an 80 percent interest in the Qilalugaq project by completing an option work program consisting of the collection of a minimum 1,000-metric-ton sample from the Q1-4 kimberlite. If North Arrow completes the option work program and provides notice to Stornoway of its intent to vest an 80 percent interest in the project, Stornoway has a one-time right to buy-back a 20 percent interest in the project by paying to North Arrow an amount equal to three times the costs incurred in connection with the option work program. North Arrow also reports it has completed an exploration drill program at the Redemption diamond project located in the Lac de Gras region of Northwest Territories, approximately 32 kilometers (20 miles) southwest of the Ekati diamond mine. A total of 799.8 meters of drilling tested seven targets located in the central part of the property near the up-ice termination of the South Coppermine kimberlite indicator mineral train. The targets included various combinations of gravity, magnetic and electromagnetic geophysical responses that were identified based on results of a detailed data compilation and new airborne and ground geophysical surveys. None of the drill holes definitively encountered a bedrock kimberlite source for the South Coppermine KIM train. The property hosts a number of lake based geophysical targets that could not be tested as part of the current drilling program. North Arrow said it will continue to evaluate the comprehensive project exploration database, including information on surficial geology and an evaluation of the geophysical data sets for the identification of more subtle, and perhaps linear structural kimberlite targets. North Arrow is exploring the Redemption property under an option agreement with Arctic Star Exploration Corp., under which it can earn a 55 percent interest by incurring C$5 million in exploration expenditures prior to July 1, 2017.
LITIGATION – The Nunavut Planning Commission is taking Canada’s federal government to court, claiming Ottawa is blocking efforts to create a land-use plan that would guide resource development in Nunavut. The commission has prepared a draft Nunavut Land Use Plan that, once approved, will be a legally binding set of guidelines, which must be implemented by government departments and agencies to manage land use for 65 percent of Canada’s Arctic. The formulation of a land-use plan for an area of this size, the homeland of Nunavut’s Inuit living in 25 municipalities which applies to all land, freshwater, marine areas and wildlife, has never been undertaken anywhere else in the world. The objective of the land-use plan is to guide and direct resource use and development, while providing for the existing and future well-being of the residents and communities that rely on the Nunavut Settlement Area and outer land fast ice zone. The court action arises from the refusal of the federal government to provide C $1.7 million to fund public hearings which are necessary to continue the land-use planning process. The lawsuit, announced Aug. 18, comes as Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes his annual trip to the North to highlight the importance his government attaches to the region. Commission head Percy Kabloona accused the Conservatives of trying to interfere in the development of the plan, which is guaranteed under the Nunavut Land Claim. In May 2013 the government imposed a two-year-to-completion deadline on the commission. “Court documents and evidence … will show that this came about by way of political interference by federal ministers in the re-appointment of the NPC chair, at the time. The same government now denies the deadline, in spite of clear correspondence to the contrary and appear to be in no hurry to see the land use planning process proceed to completion. The residents of Nunavut and the people who wish to do business in Nunavut are casualties in this dispute,” the commission said in a statement. According to the commission, the federal government has used this leverage to compromise the independent integrity of one of Nunavut’s regulatory bodies, the NPC. The court action will be the first of several actions that are expected to follow, Kabloona said. He observed that on three occasions officials at Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada offered the commission funding that would have supported the completion of the land-use plan. “However, without justification, those offers were withdrawn and AANDC Implementation Branch staff in Ottawa have failed to provide reasonable explanations or responses to the NPC’s efforts to resolve the matter,” he added.
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