A coal mining company's work on an Ellesmere Island property could be thwarted by paleontologists who say there are valuable plant and animal fossils in the ground.

WestStar Resources Corp. wants to test the coal on its Strathcona Fiord property, located 177 kilometres southeast of the Eureka weather station.

But the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology argues that Westar's proposed development area includes some of the most significant fossil finds in the world.

The fossils are of plants and animals that lived about 50 million years ago, at a time when Ellesmere Island was blanketed in forests and was home to alligators, turtles and primates.

Younger fossil sites in the area suggest that Ellesmere Island even had horses and beavers just a few million years ago.

"To find these things in the Arctic, apparently these are the best deposits of that age anywhere in Canada, and people have been looking for decades," society president Blaire Van Valkenburgh told CBC News.

"These are very unique, special deposits."

Van Valkenburgh said the fossil finds underscore how quickly the Arctic can change, and can perhaps help scientists better understand climate change.

Potential partnership

WestStar is hoping Nunavut's regulators, including the Nunavut Impact Review Board, will approve the company's coal project.

However, president Mitch Adam said he realizes that concerns about fossils on the site could affect their plans.

"I do know we are talking to the [Nunavut] Water Board and there's a community meeting. There is a lot of speculation as to the viability of us moving forward," he said.

Adam said should the Nunavut Impact Review Board decide in favour of protecting the fossils, the company will not fight that decision.

At the same time, he said there could be a partnership between his company and the paleontologists.

"Why not do a joint exploration program where we could set up a camp [to] do exploration and a scientific study at the same time?" he said.

"It does require a significant amount of capital to set up a camp and ship fuel and actually maintain an operation up there."