A Vancouver-based junior mining company has acquired prospecting permits to explore for diamonds in an area in Nunavut that includes Canada's largest migratory bird sanctuary.

Indicator Minerals was granted 25 prospecting permits earlier this year, covering an area southeast of the Queen Maud Gulf Migratory Bird Sanctuary. At least three of those permits extend into the sanctuary.

"But we don't really have any intention of going there," Indicator Minerals president Bruce Counts told CBC News.

"Our focus will be much farther to the south, in the central portion of that permit area."

Established in 1961, the bird sanctuary has provided a haven for the largest variety of nesting geese in North America, according to Environment Canada's website.

The permits for Indicator Minerals were issued by the federal Indian and Northern Affairs Department, but a department official said that doesn't mean the company can work in the area.

"Prospecting permits are very, very preliminary in their nature. There's a lot of steps that have to occur before any company would actually be on the ground," said Spencer Dewar, the department's manager of lands administration.

"There's a lot more authorizations to it than simply just acquiring your prospecting permit."

Furthermore, Indicator Minerals cannot stake claims within the bird sanctuary without obtaining access permits from Environment Canada's Canadian Wildlife Service, which manages the sanctuary.

Environment Canada officials refused to comment, except to say they have not issued any access permits for mineral exploration companies in the area.