Little Cornwallis Island

Little Cornwallis Iceland is an uninhabited island of the Queen Elizabeth Islands in the Canadian territory of Nunavut. It is located in McDougall Sound. From the Cornwallis Iceland in the east it is separated by the Strait Pullen, from Bathurst Iceland in the west by the Crozier Strait. The island consists of two almost equal parts, which are connected by a narrow isthmus. Little Cornwallis Iceland has an area of 412 km ². The highest elevations on the southwest and on the northeastern part of the island, reaching a height of about 130 m.

Polaris Mine

In the extreme south of Little Cornwallis Iceland is the Polaris mine, which were, in which base metals mined northernmost mine in the world. On the search for oil in 1960 zinc and lead deposits were discovered on the island. Cominco acquired the territory. 1970, a strong gravity anomaly has been detected. By 1973 the Polaris ore body was explored and estimated its size to 25 million tons of material consisting of 14% zinc and 4 % lead. A conveyor was done on a barge from Trois -Rivières to the island. In mid-August 1981 for this island. The promotion began in 1982. A runway that was used by Boeing 727 and Boeing 737, allowed the air transport to the mine. In August 2002, the ore deposit was largely exploited and the promotion was discontinued. Between 1982 and 2002, 21 million tonnes of ore were funded at an average grade of 3.72 % lead and 15.81% zinc. This 733,800 tons of lead and 2.8 million tonnes of zinc were recovered.