Agnico Eagle eyes hovercraft to look for gold in Nunavut

Agnico Eagle ishoping a pair of hovercraftwill allow the gold mining companyto conductyear-long exploration in Nunavut's Kivalliq region.

The company isplanning to ship two hovercraftthis summer to its Meadowbank gold mine north of Baker Lake, Nunavut.

The one-year pilot project still needs approval from the Nunavut Impact Review Board.

If the regulators approve, a couple of three-tonne hovercraftwith a total price tag of under $3 million will be on their way to Baker Lake via sealift later this year.

One of the hovercraftwould be used to transport up to 22 people. The other one would move equipment from its plannedAmaruqmineto drill sites on the tundra.

• Agnico Eagle green lights construction of 2 new Nunavut gold mines

In its proposal to the territory'splanning commission, the company says the hovercraftwould have a very low environmental impact on the ground and a noise level equivalent to about two snowmobiles.

The vehicles would also be a cheaper and safer alternative to using helicopters for exploration work said Dale Coffin, a spokesperson for Agnico Eagle.

"We've been looking for alternative sources of transportation. What's been used, what is being used in other regions in the far North and we kept coming back to the hovercraft," he said.

"It's being used quite extensively in the Siberia region of northern Russia.

"Same conditions, same type of climate;very cold, very much a winter climate. It's suitable for them,why can't it be suitable for us?"

Used in the North

A Russian hovercraft manufacture visited the site to determine whether or not the vehicle would cut it in theKivalliq,home to shallow lakes and rolling rocky hills. The company gave it the go-ahead.

"You're not going to climb across mountain ranges," said Adrian Went, the managing director of British hovercraft manufacturerGriffon Hoverwork.

"You're going to use itto find your way across the sea or into fields for example when they're frozen over."

His company's hovercraft have been used in the oil and gas sector in Alaska, by the Canadian Coast Guard on the St. Lawrence and by Norwegianresearchers who used one to glide across an ice floe towardthe North Pole.

Agnico Eagle is hoping hovercraftwill extend its exploration season year-round.From the end of October to the end of January, Dale said exploration work shuts down until winter roads can be developed. A hovercraft could erase the wait, gliding over water and ice. Then there's the added benefit to use them in search and rescue.

"We think there's great potential, if it works out," Dale said.