Stanley — After months of testing, the 8,500-year-old arrowhead found undisturbed at the proposed Sisson Mine Project has been identified as “just a pointy rock.” The pointy rock in question measures 5 centimetres long by 2 cm at the base, tapering to a point at the top. A buzz was created in archaeology circles in the province after someone on-site yelled, holding the rock aloft, “This bears a remarkable resemblance to an arrowhead or knife point from the Middle Archaic Period!”
And, as you may have guessed, a frenzy ensued. Now, amidst the embarrassment over this revelation and previous media stories claiming the artifact to be the first-ever such discovery found in an undisturbed location within the Maritimes, a couple of silver linings have been found. The first: a huge weight has been lifted from the shoulders of Stantec archaeologist Wayne Stickles, who “misplaced” a sealed baggie last winter containing 2 other presumably valuable “micro flakes” of chipped stone, along with their documentation.
According to a Stantec incident report, the baggie was presumed lost in the snow. “Well, obviously, with a result like this we’re a bit disappointed,” said Stickles. “That being said, Phew! Thank god! That’s a load off my mind. Since the arrowhead is just a pointy rock, odds are the 2 pieces we lost were just fool’s gold or something.”
The second silver lining to be found in this open-pit tungsten-molybdenum farce: pointy rocks do not inhibit mineral exploration and development in New Brunswick (at least not at the time of publication). The possibility of a significant archaeological find at the site has, until now, effectively put the project on hold, making it impossible for mine proponent Northcliff Resources to find any significant sources of funding.
“If we don’t get the money, it will be darned hard to build anything,” said Christoff Zahoovian, president of the Vancouver-based mining development company. Zahoovian said the company struck out with so many Canadian and international banks and bombed so many attempts to attract joint-venture partners at home and abroad, that they were about to ask their management team to apply for as many low-interest-rate credit cards as their individual credit reports would allow. With the news that the Department of Natural Resources is now simply sitting on a cache of 580 run-of-the-mill pet rocks, everything seems to be turning up ore-ses.
“There is a good appetite for debt out there,” said a giddy Zahoovian, envisioning a tailings pond as far as the eye can see. “Just look at all the bums in the U.S. with mortgages.”