Mining and Canada's North: build it and they will come

摘要

Our three northern territories are often touted as Canada's mining frontier, and the key to unlocking their largely unrealized mineral potential is to address the regions limited infrastructure. To date, government investment in infrastructure has been modest, and changes to the mining taxation regime in the federal governments most recent budget introduce further challenges for miners with projects in this region. Nunavut's only operational mine, Agnico-Eagle's Meadow-bank, required significant infrastructure investments. A floating dock system was installed in Baker Lake to receive supplies. A tank farm, with an annual resupply capacity of 60 million litres of diesel fuel for power generation and mining fleet supply was built, along with a 110-kilometre all-weather road (including bridges) - by far the longest road in the territory. Other investments include the construction and maintenance of a 1,500-metre air strip and the acquisition of six large diesel generators. The lack of energy infrastructure -and resulting $70- to $80-million fuel bill for the company's operations - has helped drive the price of electricity to $0.30KWh. There are also costs for shipping, local transportation and storage of the fuel on site.