B.C. mine exec reaches out to scientists {50 million year old fossils}

Calgary Herald ^ | Jan 25, 2010 | Randy Boswell

[thackney]

The B.C. businessman behind a proposed High Arctic coal mine is reaching out to the international scientific community -- which has sounded alarms about the mine's potential threat to a "world-renowned" fossil site on Ellesmere Island -- by inviting paleontologists to work with miners to dig for coal and ancient animal traces at the same time.

Weststar Resources Corp. president Mitchell Adam, whose Vancouver-based company is currently seeking Nunavut government approval for what would be one of the planet's northernmost industrial operations, says scholars could gain greater access to the island's 50-million-year-old fossil specimens and significantly reduce research costs if the controversial mine is allowed to proceed.

Weststar announced in May that the Canadian government has approved eight licences for mining sites near Eureka, along the Fosheim Peninsula and Strathcona Fiord.

The company has also applied for 13 other licences nearby, claiming the region has "the greatest potential for coal deposits of any unit" in Canada's vast Arctic archipelago.

But Adam says the planned development won't happen unless he's assured that Inuit interests are respected and rare fossils -- along with wildlife, water and the Ellesmere Island environment in general -- are protected.

The paleontological resources "are just one of many issues to be dealt with," Adam told Canwest News Service, which last week revealed the brewing battle between fossil fuel and fossil science at the proposed mine site near Eureka, the Canadian government's frigid, windswept research station on the remote Arctic island.

But "at the same time," he added, "if we can outline surface coal, and get some interest of a major company, they're going to provide jobs and they're going to ship it out of there -- no coal-fired plant, no gasification. You're just going to dig the coal, put it on a boat and send it to China, Korea or Europe."

Convinced the retreating Arctic ice will soon open a viable Northwest Passage shipping route, Adam said the world "still needs energy" and "for those concerned about potential fossils -- well, let's go up jointly. They can scientifically study it, and we can take our samples, and we can share the freight and build a camp that's safe."

The U.S.-based Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, which represents 2,000 of the world's leading fossil scientists, has been rallying its members to deluge Nunavut's review board with objections to Weststar's plans.

"The proposed development area includes fossil sites of a broad range of ages that includes some of the most significant sites in the world, and the society . . . is deeply concerned over the possible loss of these valuable resources," said a statement issued earlier this month.

"These unique, world-renowned sites near Strathcona Fiord include fossil plants and animals that lived during one of the warmest times in all of Earth history, when Ellesmere Island was blanketed in forests inhabited by alligators, turtles, primates and hippo-like animals," the society said. "Despite over three decades of searching the High Arctic, no sites of comparable age and fossil richness have been discovered elsewhere in the Canadian Arctic."

In June, it was reported the discovery on Ellesmere Island of a set of 53-million-year-old fossilized teeth from a huge, hippo-like animal that lived in the island's ancient tropical environment. The find was made by Saskatchewan paleontologist Jaelyn Eberle -- now curator of fossil vertebrates at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History -- and was hailed as important evidence of how prehistoric mammal species arrived in North America.

The society claimed it is "not disputing either the need for finding new sources of energy, or the economic benefits that may accrue from the development of the coal mining."

But it stressed the need "to preserve the invaluable fossil resources in the area alongside other objectives."

Paleontologists have been known to benefit, in some cases, from the rock exposures created by mining.

In August, the geological journal GSA Today published a study led by Canadian scientists that detailed the priceless scientific treasure that has emerged from the Klondike goldfields, where 113 years of digging for nuggets has unearthed a wealth of data and rare specimens for the world's geologists and paleontologists.

[thackney]

This is a handout photo of an overview of Eocene (50-40 million year old) fossil-bearing sediments near Strathcona Fiord, Ellesmere Island.

[cripplecreek]

Its good PR really.

The sandstone quarry near me lets college students collect fossils. They also sell some as paving stones.

[Crim]

Brilliant way to call them out....if they balk then they really didnt want access to the fossils...they wanted control and denail of the use of resources...

[BigEdLB]

In June, it was reported the discovery on Ellesmere Island of a set of 53-million-year-old fossilized teeth from a huge, hippo-like animal that lived in the island's ancient tropical environment.

Huge hippo-like creature?

Those are not extinct...

[Red Badger]

IBHTP!..............

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Sounds like Cussler’s latest paperback, “Arctic Drift.”