Drilling resumes at closed Inuit Labradorite mine

A crew is drilling for Labradorite at Ten Mile Bay, near Nain, at a quarry the Labrador Inuit Development Corporation shut down two years ago.

At the time, the corporation blamed a downturn in demandafter the collapse of the U.S. housing market.

Chris Webb, an assistant manager with the LIDC, said drilling has resumed because demand is up and prices have rebounded.

"We will have to make sure that with this drilling program that we do find marketable, quarry-able stone, that isn't fractured. It has to be at a certain grade," said Webb.

The LIDC hopes that work at the quarry will also reactivate the corporation's idled stone cutting and polishing plant in Hopedale.