EDITORIAL PAGE — Real potential

The term “potential” has long accompanied any discussion of the mining industry in the Northwest Territories. Over the years, that potential has only been hinted at by way of several spectacular successes. The Giant and Nerco mines, Pine Point, Polaris, Nanisivik and Lupin spring readily to mind as evidence of potential-turned-reality.

But in the context of the vast acreage of exposed Precambrian rock known geologically as the Slave Province, actual mine development has been spotty. Today, however, it is difficult not to believe that, at long last, the region is on the brink of unveiling its vast mineral potential and stepping on to the national stage as a top producer.

Consider the facts. As mentioned, there is the Territories’ string of distinguished producers, both past and present. But since the late 1980s, an incredible array of advanced exploration plays has surfaced. Foremost today is the Dia Met/BHP discovery. At an early estimate of 80 million tons grading 63 carats per 100 tons, the discovery is, month after month, creeping toward the status of being the world’s next big diamond mine. Moreover, kimberlite pipes have been detected near the find and well beyond it.

Some people — and not just promoters — are openly talking about not one but perhaps several diamond mines springing up in the Territories. From the exploration perspective, results so far have not thrown cold water on that notion.

Apart from diamond exploration, gold prospects in the region — some of them quite advanced — are acquiring a patina of respectability now that bullion prices have been hefted into new price territory. (Naturally, existing producers also gain from gold’s price rise.)

In a recent report under the imprimatur of the Territories’ very bullish Chamber of Mines, several exploration plays are advanced as strong development candidates. In the golds, these include Tundra (four million tonnes at 6.3 grams per tonne), George Lake (3.1 million tonnes at 12.41 grams), Colomac and some smaller but richer deposits, including Ulu and Nicholas Lake.

In the base metals category, nine deposits with more than a million tonnes are known in the Slave Province. Chief among these are Izok Lake (13 million tonnes), Hackett River (nearly 20 million tonnes), Gondor (more than seven million tonnes) and High Lake (close to 5 million tonnes).

What, then, beyond the vagaries of metal-price cycles, is standing in the way of development? It is certainly not the engineering aspects, the Chamber notes. Mining companies have built winter roads to deposits, transported concentrates by ship through polar seas, built and operated mines in howling, sub-zero temperatures. The environmental question should not halt progress nor should native land claims, which seem to be progressing nicely. The real obstacle to realization of the Territories’ potential is lack of infrastructure — specifically the lack of road and rail to the remoter deposits, minimal electrical capacity and the absence of a deep-sea port. All these deficiencies require money in sums that, unfortunately, individual companies can not possibly afford to lay out for single deposits. Public- sector money, in spite of the current economic climate, must come into play. For those who share the northern vision, it must be agonizing to see how enticingly close the Northwest Territories is to realizing its potential.