The truth about Hope Bay

With reference to Barry Smee’s interesting letter on the history of Hope Bay area of Nunavut (T.N.M., July 10-16/00), I feel it’s important to set the record straight.

The initial efforts by Roberts Mining Company in the Hope Bay belt were under the direction of Warren Moore of Duluth, Minn., with field operations in the 1960s under the direction of Jack Everett. This exploration focused on the silver potential of the area, but the prospecting activity also identified the gold occurrences at Ida Point and Roberts Lake. In the 1970s, control of the Roberts Mining partnership passed to Hugh Harrison. The actual silver mining that took place in the area was under lease from Roberts Mining by a group called the Hope Bay Syndicate, a private venture. With the demise of the Hope Bay Syndicate, Lynx Canada acquired a lease from Roberts mining.

I acquired control of Roberts Mining in the early 1980s from Mr. Harrison. Based on the old exploration data, we recognized the gold potential of the area. Ted DeMatties deserves much of the credit for this. Roberts Mining then concluded an option with Noranda, which conducted geophysical surveys and limited drilling at Roberts Lake. Although, to us, the results of this work were positive (including a high-grade gold drill intersection and an attractive induced-polarization target), Noranda dropped its option to lease. Subsequently, we concluded an agreement with Abermin. Upon its bankruptcy, Abermin’s position reverted to its creditors, namely Goldcorp and CSA Management. The latter conducted a brief and, to our minds, poorly designed drilling program, the results of which were negative.

Several factors — including lack of interest in continuing the project, a poorly structured underlying partnership agreement, the remote location, and rising holding costs — forced us to abandon the claims in the mid-1990s, a decision we may well regret.

Ernest Lehmann

Geologist

Minneapolis, Minn.