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Barren Lands: An Epic Search For Diamonds in the North American Arctic
In the late 1970s, two men set out on what would prove to be a twenty-year quest to find a North American gem mine, along a fabled path that had defied sixteenth-century explorers, Wild West fortune seekers, and modern geologists. They are an unlikely pair: Chuck Fipke, a ragged fanatical prospector with a singular talent for finding sand-size mineral grains, and Stew Blusson, an ultra-tough geologist and helicopter pilot. Inventive, eccentric, and ruthless, they follow a trail of clues left by predecessors-and a few actual gems-all the way from backwoods Arkansas up the glaciated high Rockies into the vast and haunted barren lands of northern Canada. With a South African geochemist's secret weapon, Fipke and Blusson outwit rivals, including the immense De Beers cartel, and make one of the world's greatest diamond discoveries-setting off a stampede unseen since the Klondike gold rush.
Barren Lands offers an unforgettable journey for those who, in the words of a nineteenth-century trapper, "want to see that country before it is all gone."
Barren Lands offers an unforgettable journey for those who, in the words of a nineteenth-century trapper, "want to see that country before it is all gone."
- GenresHistoryGeologyNonfiction
442 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 13, 2024
My rating: 4.5 stars -- the obsession, hard work, heartbreak and good luck required to discover a multi-billion dollar mine. Highly recommended.
This is the story of the discovery of the Ekati diamond mine, in the Barren Lands of the Northwest Territories, by Chuck Fipke, Hugo Dummett, and others. In 1978, Dummett signed on with Superior Oil to prospect for diamonds in North America, just as the science of using indicator minerals -- pyrope garnets, chrome diopside and chromite -- for diamond exploration was being worked out. Superior started prospecting around Arkansas's Crater of Diamonds -- now inconveniently a State Park. Hugo and Mike Wolfhard hired Chuck Fipke and his crew to sample the area. Lots of fun with jungly brush and shotgun-toting landowners... Hugo even tried to sweet-talk then-Gov. Bill Clinton into leasing him the park!
Fipke is a poster child for the space-case prospector-geologist, but he's smart, has a sharp eye and was an *amazingly* hard worker. But a *terrible* boss -- he drove his workers to exhaustion, and wouldn't take elementary safety precautions, even on helicopter-supported work. It's remarkable he didn't kill anyone.
The road to Ekati was not direct. Superior's exploration program (and their competitors') went down the usual side tracks and dead ends -- including rediscovery of the salted site of a 19th century diamond fraud. Then -- just as Fipke & company were developing some truly good-looking Barren Lands prospects -- Mobil Oil bought Superior, and summarily axed all Canadian exploration. Thud.
Fipke and Dia Met scrambled for money from family, friends and penny-stock speculators, raising enough to stake a sizeable claim-block near Lac de Gras, in the trackless barrens a couple hundred
miles northeast of Yellowknife. Then the money was gone, and none of the pros were interested in Dia Met's "moose pasture." Bankruptcy loomed -- but Dummett landed a new job with BHP, with a healthy budget, and he quickly leased the Fipke-Dia Met ground.
Word of the BHP deal brought De Beers, Corona and others into the area, but the *real* excitement started when BHP's first drillhole found diamonds -- lots of diamonds! Despite strenuous secrecy
efforts, the word got out -- as it always does -- and the Great Diamond Rush of 1991 was on! Tundra was staked by the township, and Dia Met stock, which sold for 50c. a share in mid-91, hit $67 by the end of 1992. Fipke and his partners were paper billionaires!
The Ekati mine was commissioned in late 1998. Capital cost was US$700 million. Sales of US$448 million (FY 2001) yielded gross earnings of $285 million (!, EBITDA = earnings before interest, tax,
depreciation & amortization = gross profit). Mine life is expected to exceed 25 years.
District exploration costs (1989-98, Ekati-Diavik district, all companies) exceeded US$500 million(!). A second mine, Diavik (Rio Tinto-Aber), inconveniently located directly under Lac de Gras, is scheduled to go into production in 2003 at an estimated capital cost of US$885 million. Serious money is involved here. [Financial data from BHP 2001 annual report, and various web reports. Don't expect much financial information in the book. Google is your friend.]
Fipke & his longtime partner, geologist Stewart Blusson, each retain a 10%(!!) interest in the Ekati mine. (Blusson later gave $50 million to UBC, his alma mater). When the big bucks rolled in, Fipke's marriage fell apart, his brother sued him (as did many others), and his son stopped speaking to him. The Big Strike had its costs.
The book's meandering start might put you off, but don't be discouraged -- Krajick has a fine story to tell, and once he gets rolling, this is strong stuff. No geologist who's worked in exploration -- or
anyone with a taste for an old-fashioned strike-it-rich story -- should miss this one. On my list of the 100 Best Books ever.
This is the story of the discovery of the Ekati diamond mine, in the Barren Lands of the Northwest Territories, by Chuck Fipke, Hugo Dummett, and others. In 1978, Dummett signed on with Superior Oil to prospect for diamonds in North America, just as the science of using indicator minerals -- pyrope garnets, chrome diopside and chromite -- for diamond exploration was being worked out. Superior started prospecting around Arkansas's Crater of Diamonds -- now inconveniently a State Park. Hugo and Mike Wolfhard hired Chuck Fipke and his crew to sample the area. Lots of fun with jungly brush and shotgun-toting landowners... Hugo even tried to sweet-talk then-Gov. Bill Clinton into leasing him the park!
Fipke is a poster child for the space-case prospector-geologist, but he's smart, has a sharp eye and was an *amazingly* hard worker. But a *terrible* boss -- he drove his workers to exhaustion, and wouldn't take elementary safety precautions, even on helicopter-supported work. It's remarkable he didn't kill anyone.
The road to Ekati was not direct. Superior's exploration program (and their competitors') went down the usual side tracks and dead ends -- including rediscovery of the salted site of a 19th century diamond fraud. Then -- just as Fipke & company were developing some truly good-looking Barren Lands prospects -- Mobil Oil bought Superior, and summarily axed all Canadian exploration. Thud.
Fipke and Dia Met scrambled for money from family, friends and penny-stock speculators, raising enough to stake a sizeable claim-block near Lac de Gras, in the trackless barrens a couple hundred
miles northeast of Yellowknife. Then the money was gone, and none of the pros were interested in Dia Met's "moose pasture." Bankruptcy loomed -- but Dummett landed a new job with BHP, with a healthy budget, and he quickly leased the Fipke-Dia Met ground.
Word of the BHP deal brought De Beers, Corona and others into the area, but the *real* excitement started when BHP's first drillhole found diamonds -- lots of diamonds! Despite strenuous secrecy
efforts, the word got out -- as it always does -- and the Great Diamond Rush of 1991 was on! Tundra was staked by the township, and Dia Met stock, which sold for 50c. a share in mid-91, hit $67 by the end of 1992. Fipke and his partners were paper billionaires!
The Ekati mine was commissioned in late 1998. Capital cost was US$700 million. Sales of US$448 million (FY 2001) yielded gross earnings of $285 million (!, EBITDA = earnings before interest, tax,
depreciation & amortization = gross profit). Mine life is expected to exceed 25 years.
District exploration costs (1989-98, Ekati-Diavik district, all companies) exceeded US$500 million(!). A second mine, Diavik (Rio Tinto-Aber), inconveniently located directly under Lac de Gras, is scheduled to go into production in 2003 at an estimated capital cost of US$885 million. Serious money is involved here. [Financial data from BHP 2001 annual report, and various web reports. Don't expect much financial information in the book. Google is your friend.]
Fipke & his longtime partner, geologist Stewart Blusson, each retain a 10%(!!) interest in the Ekati mine. (Blusson later gave $50 million to UBC, his alma mater). When the big bucks rolled in, Fipke's marriage fell apart, his brother sued him (as did many others), and his son stopped speaking to him. The Big Strike had its costs.
The book's meandering start might put you off, but don't be discouraged -- Krajick has a fine story to tell, and once he gets rolling, this is strong stuff. No geologist who's worked in exploration -- or
anyone with a taste for an old-fashioned strike-it-rich story -- should miss this one. On my list of the 100 Best Books ever.
January 30, 2012
One of the best books I have ever read! Really. I loved it! It goes so well with the Bre-X, and Voisey Bay book, that you might want to read all three in a row. Tells of the 20 years journey to find the first Canadian Diamond Mines - Ekati/Diavik NWT, (made somewhat common knowledge by the show Ice-Road Truckers). Tells the amazing story of Chuck Fipke and Stew Blusson and their obsessive search for the tiny grains of indicator minerals that literally lead them over the entire North American Continent until they traced their way back to the source near the Arctic Circle. Just a super tale of geologic adventure, filled with all the great field stories that only a couple of weather beaten geologist who strongly fit the saying, "adventure is just bad planning", could find themselves snared in. You also get a good dose of diamond hunting history and early northern Canadian exploration history. Worth a second read someday.
August 19, 2012
Ok, I don't read many nonfiction books. But when I heard about diamond mining in Canada I was interested so I looked up books on Amazon. There were only 3 books about it. Barren Lands got he best reviews so I picked it up. Kevin gives you an entire history about searching for riches in North America. He was witty and funny and gives you a great feel for what it was like not only now, but 200 years ago. This is a long book, and I took a couple of breaks from it to get in some light reading, but I would recommend this book.
October 22, 2014
Really great book if you are a geologist !
September 12, 2011
I got this book because I am a geologist and thought it would be interesting. It was such a good read! The book moved much faster than I thought it would and the history aspect of mining for diamonds was well done, lots of info but not too much. Non-geologists would enjoy it too!
March 26, 2008
Diamonds! Canada! Ice! You would think that this book was about the 1880's and not the 1980's, being a book about a great rush for a really valuable commodity. But, it is about some huge diamond discoveries in Canada in the late 1980's - 1990's. I sort of remember this when I started studying geology (1990), as there were lots of term papers being written about kimberlites (the diamond-bearing rocks)in Canada (I also wrote a short paper on kimberlites (non-Canadian, eh) at the time). But, I don't think I fully understood that what was being found in Canada was significant - like South Africa type significant. Anyway, this book has all the angles - adventure, clashing personalities, geology, evil companies, dangerous helicopter adventures. And if anything, it'll make you appreciate "Ice Road Truckers" all that much more - an unintended benefit I got from this.
October 31, 2007
This is an exciting book of science journalism about real-life adventure seekers. It starts as a history of diamond exploration in North America, which is a story of of adventure, danger,and deceit dating back to the gold rush. It the focuses on two odd geologists, Chuck and Stew, who've spent their entire careers mired in the the adventure, danger, and deceit that led to the final discovery of diamond mines in the Barren Lands of Canada.
January 12, 2008
The story of the race to find Canadian diamonds. Sounds like it might be dry, but as turns out, this was a pretty exciting story. If you ever watch that "Ice Road Truckers" show, think of the FIRST people to attempt to travel in the desolate Canadian arctic on a large scale.
May 1, 2019
A very good account of the exploration and discoveries of diamonds in the Barren Land of Canada.
No photos, maps.
Although most other major diamond mines in the world are mentioned, there is oddly no mention of the lamproite Argyle pipe and mine in Australia.
No photos, maps.
Although most other major diamond mines in the world are mentioned, there is oddly no mention of the lamproite Argyle pipe and mine in Australia.
February 2, 2019
Brilliantly researched, well written and a great story of original thinking and perseverance.
February 12, 2013
En svepande berättelse om diamantfeber i norr. Läsaren får en historik om sökandet efter diamanter som sedan fokuserar på hur besatta geologer får upp spåret efter diamanter i Nordamerika. Det stora fyndet sker i Kanada långt ovan polcirkeln efter ett letande på över tio år. Från ingenting har Kanada sedan blivit världens tredje största exportör av diamanter.
Bokens stora behållning är porträtten av människor som tar sig an enorma utmaningar som sträcker sig över hela livstider. En kvarvarande känsla är tvivel om det egentligen var värt uppoffringarna som ofta landade på nära och kära. En annan fascinerande aspekt är att det mesta utspelas i närhistorien och visar på att det finns mycket kvar att upptäcka på vår planet. Det trista är att stora vildmarksvärden ligger i vägen för hungern efter nya resurser att exploatera. Mycket kommer att hända i Arktis under den närmaste framtiden.
Bokens stora behållning är porträtten av människor som tar sig an enorma utmaningar som sträcker sig över hela livstider. En kvarvarande känsla är tvivel om det egentligen var värt uppoffringarna som ofta landade på nära och kära. En annan fascinerande aspekt är att det mesta utspelas i närhistorien och visar på att det finns mycket kvar att upptäcka på vår planet. Det trista är att stora vildmarksvärden ligger i vägen för hungern efter nya resurser att exploatera. Mycket kommer att hända i Arktis under den närmaste framtiden.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews