Iggiak / Voisey's Bay
Locality



  • Voisey's Bay
  • Detail of Mining Complex

60 MIDDLE PATH ROAD
Iggiak, A0P 1L0


Newfoundland Tourism Region : Labrador


VOISEY'S BAY: Before one gets to Voisey's Bay, one comes to BAY OF ISLANDS which should not be confused with the bay of the same name on the Great Northern Peninsula on the Island of Newfoundland.

Unfortunately, the research team was unable to find any information of the bay, except that one assumes that it would have a number of islands in it.

Voisey's Bay is located 38 kilometres (24 mi) south of the community of Nain. The bay is heavily indented with numerous inlets and islands and is extremely rocky. Voisey's Bay is well known because of the Voisey's Bay Mine. If of interest, the history behind the mine is located on the company's website, Vale INCO.

An excellent article on the mine, entitled "The Voisey's Bay Mine" is available at the Heritage NL website. One can also read the article entitled "The Voisey's Bay Project and the Environment" which highlights the effects of the mine on the province and all attempts to mitigate its impact at Heritage NL.

Voisey's Bay, according to Larry Innes, in his article dated 2001, "Staking Claims: Innu Rights and Mining Claims at Voisey's Bay" has had many names, "attesting to the different human histories intertwined here".

He wrote: Archaeologists have found evidence here of human habitation going back 6,000 years, and the descendants of these early peoples have continued to make extensive use of the place. To the Innu, it is known as Kapukuanipant- kauashat, or more recently as Eimish (or "Emish").

To the Inuit, it is Tasiujatsoak. Settlers called it Voisey's Bay after the family that established a trading post here in the early 1900s, and this is the name that found its way onto the government maps and into public consciousness in November 1994, when a small company called Diamond Fields Resources (DFR) made a significant mineral find.

This event marked the beginning of an exploration boom that some compared to the Klondike -- but it also set in motion a complex web of conflicts between the Innu, the Inuit, and some of the most powerful interests in the global mining industry.

Voisey's Bay/ Eimish/Tasiujatsoak became contested terrain, and the issues at the heart of the conflict are a reflection of tensions within contemporary Canadian society.

Used with permission from "Uncovering the Origin of 1001 Unique Place Names in Newfoundland and Labrador" 2021 Jennifer Leigh Hill

Address of this page: http://nl.ruralroutes.com/Iggiak



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