Thank you.
My name is Lou Covello. I'm a consulting geologist and president of the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines. I'll be addressing the first four points in the handout, and Pamela Strand, who is a director and vice-president, will handle the last three items.
In 2008 there were five producing mines in the NWT and Nunavut, with a gross value of production of $2.16 billion. This represents about 45% of the GDP of the Northwest Territories. At the Ekati and Diavik diamond mines, direct and indirect employment totalled 2,250 people over the last four years. Of these workers, 70% are northerners, of whom 40% are aboriginal. Prior to 1996, none of these jobs existed.
Exploration and production within the mining sector spur education and economic development in the communities. An example of this is the community of Behchoko, one of those most affected through employment by the opening of the Diavik, Ekati, and Snap Lake mines. Prior to 1998, post-secondary education amounted to one or two high school graduates in that community. Ten years later that has grown to approximately 200 who are in one phase or another of post-secondary education.
The northern mining industry works to encourage northern aboriginal companies to participate in the mining business. One example is Tli Cho Logistics, a company that's wholly owned by the Tli Cho. It was formed in 1999 and is currently the recipient of the PDAC aboriginal achievement in mineral industry award.
In the 1920s and 1930s mining at Great Bear Lake and petroleum development at Norman Wells first opened up the north to industrial development. The development of most of the infrastructure is now in place in the Northwest Territories. The barge system on the Mackenzie River, which is the longest in Canada, the railway north from Alberta to Pine Point and Hay River, the highway to Yellowknife, and the Ingraham Trail east of Yellowknife were all built to serve the mines of the day. Currently there are no highways in Nunavut.
All the hydro power in the Northwest Territories--Bluefish, Snare River, and Taltson--comes from dams built by the mines to service their mines and the surrounding communities. Pine Point mine was responsible for the railway from northern Alberta and connects the port of Hay River. Pine Point also led to the development of the hydro dam on Taltson River and the distribution network that services the communities south of Great Slave Lake.
The Nanisivik mine on Baffin Island established a community, a jet airport, and a deepwater port. It is currently being used as a northern strategic base by the federal government. The Polaris mine was the most northerly mine in Canada and the most northerly metal mine in the world. It also flew the largest Canadian flag on its concentrator roof. Our ice flow technology is world-renowned and was developed to support northern mines at Great Bear Lake, Lupin, and the diamond mines. Port Radium mine on Great Bear Lake drove development of the Northern Transportation Company. It is now aboriginal-owned. It carries freight up the Mackenzie to the Arctic coast communities.
It's time for a new vision for transportation and power systems to serve the developing north. The few people who have it, the three northern territories, wouldn't fill a football stadium. They can't be expected to pay the cost of developing it. Imagine the north as the prairies in 1880. Only a few people had ever seen the prairies, but some saw the benefit of the railway as a way to join the populated east and west coasts.
There are currently over 30 undeveloped mineral deposits in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. They have an aggregate gross value in excess of hundreds of billions of dollars. Some of these deposits could see production cycles lasting more than 100 years. All of these deposits would be in production today if they were located in Ontario or Quebec.
The north needs a major investment in hydro and nuclear power in order to facilitate the orderly development and maximize the benefits of Canada's northern mineral endowment. If we are ever to get beyond gold and diamonds and able to produce base metals, we need roads, ports, railways, and all of the other things that say we are joined to Canada. The NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines has met with the Yukon Chamber of Mines and we have agreed to jointly seek a study of northern infrastructure.
Pam.