As you know well, there are actually significant natural gas resources in the Canadian north. The Mackenzie Delta is a rich natural gas basin. The economics of developing those areas depends on market prices, and right now it looks like it will be a while off before we see significant new development of those resources. At the same time, we have many northern communities in the Yukon and elsewhere across the north that have ongoing energy needs. How are those met? Overwhelmingly, they're met by moving energy from the south into the north. We fly diesel in or we barge it in or we truck it in.
So the opportunity, as we see it, for natural gas is to ask whether there is a means for the federal government to consider substituting natural gas for a current energy supply and delivering more economically and in a more environmentally sustainable way the energy needs of northern communities. That's some of the research we're undertaking right now with our partners in the mining industry and with various other stakeholders. But long term, these are communities that are isolated from major infrastructure, like pipeline infrastructure, that could deliver energy much more economically. They have significant energy needs, and we need to be meeting those in the most effective way possible.
There is new micro and nano LNG technology. There's new CNG technology. The new applications of various alternative technologies that incorporate natural gas along with perhaps some renewable applications or local biomass and so on—we're interested in investigating as many of those as possible. Quite frankly, we see a market opportunity that delivers on a host of public objectives.