Nunavut enjoys another record year of mineral exploration
Wed Oct 31, 5:08 PM
Bob Weber, The Canadian Press
ca.news.finance.yahoo.com
By Bob Weber, The Canadian Press
David Aksawnee knows what another year of record spending for mineral exploration in the Eastern Arctic looks like.
"I see a lot of happy faces," says the mayor of Baker Lake, Nunavut, the centre of several major exploration and development projects.
"(People) are making an income now and supporting their families."
This week, the government of Nunavut released figures suggesting the territory is heading for its eighth year of record spending on mineral exploration out of the last nine. A sector that injected about $26 million into the economy in 1999 is now expected to pump in nearly $230 million in 2007.
That's nearly one-quarter of Nunavut's entire GDP and a 17 per cent climb from last year.
"It has a huge impact on the economy and it's good for the region," said Economic Development Minister David Simailak.
As in 2006, most of the exploration was driven by uranium. Although prices for the silvery metal tumbled this summer, they are recovering and are expected to average over $100 a pound in 2008 - a long way from the $7-a-pound average a few years ago.
Of Nunavut's 135 active exploration projects, 49 involve uranium. Diamonds come next at 41 projects, followed by gold with 25.
High commodity prices have even spurred interest in lower-value resources. Nunavut has nine base metals projects, six companies examining nickel-copper deposits and two focused on iron.
The activity is spread all over the territorial map - from the massive Mary River iron project on the tip of Baffin Island to the advanced gold and uranium projects around Baker Lake and Rankin Inlet in the central region to diamond exploration around Coronation Gulf in the far west.
Territorial figures show about half the money is spent in the central region. The rest is equally divided between Baffin Island and western Nunavut.
The good times for miners aren't expected to stop any time soon.
Economic Development spokesman Gordon MacKay said exploration spending should stay above $200 million for the next several years. That will be in addition to money being spent developing actual mines when gold projects near Baker Lake and on the central coast go into construction.
Those expenditures could exceed $500 million a year, said MacKay.
As well, much of Nunavut is just now being closely mapped.
"A lot of the areas being explored in Nunavut have never been explored before," MacKay said. "The new potential of the territory ... will sustain exploration here for years."
Already, people are camped in front of a federal office in the capital of Iqaluit, waiting for their chance to snap up the prospecting permits that become available Dec. 1.
The world has noticed, too. In 2007, two more major mining multinationals - Zinifex Ltd. and Newmont Mining (TSX: NMC.TO) - have bought out junior companies with projects in Nunavut.
That means prosperity back in Baker Lake, where dozens of people are already at work building an all-weather road to the planned Meadowbank gold mine.
"They're getting what they want," said Aksawnee. "Vehicles, snowmobiles, boats ...."
Steady work also seems to have created a little more social peace.
"There's been a lot of social problems and that's really slowed down," Aksawnee said. "I was worried it would create more problems, but it hasn't."
Simailak said Nunavut's settled land claims and stable regulatory system may be giving it a leg up on the Northwest Territories, where some claims remain under negotiation.
The challenge, he said, will be to keep prospectors out on the land and ensure the locals benefit. Money will have to be spent studying the territory's vast geology and on training people.
Bring it on, said Aksawnee.
"It's already creating a lot of employment for my people here. It's helped a lot." |
