The Northwest Territories stands to miss out on the abundant economic opportunities presented by the multi-billion-dollar remediation of Yellowknife’s Giant Mine, says the board overseeing the mine’s cleanup.
“Where is the strategy for capturing the benefits of that spending?” David Livingstone, chair of the Giant Mine Oversight Board, said before a committee of MLAs on Wednesday.
“There’s this huge opportunity and it’s slipping through our fingers, and that’s very frustrating.”
Livingstone said it’s up to the Northwest Territories government to make sure money spent on Giant Mine’s remediation, and future remediation projects in the territory, stays in the N.W.T.
He made his remarks during a public briefing on the cleanup of the abandoned gold mine, and how that cleanup could enhance the territory’s economy — that is, if the N.W.T. government makes a concerted effort to capture its benefits.
Giant Mine operated from 1948 until 2004. The federal government took responsibility for the mine after its then-owner Royal Oak Mines Inc. went into receivership in 1999.
Last November, the Giant Mine Remediation Project updated the estimated cleanup costs from $1 billion to $4.38 billion. Taxpayers will shoulder those costs.
Remediation of the mine involves, among other things, filling pits, taking down buildings, constructing a state-of-the-art water treatment plant, and containing around 237,000 tonnes of highly toxic arsenic trioxide dust deep underground.
The oversight board estimates the remediation project will spend around $240 million annually for the next 15 years, and boost the territory’s GDP by $108 million a year.
A scale model of Giant Mine at the Giant Mine Oversight Board office compares the mine’s chambers, which store arsenic trioxide, to a building in Yellowknife. The oversight board estimates the remediation project will spend around $240 million annually for the next 15 years, and boost the territory’s GDP by $108 million a year. (Liny Lamberink/CBC)
Graeme Clinton, an economist and oversight board director, said spending on remediation activities will go into industries like waste disposal, construction, mining services, scientific services, transportation, logistics, accommodation and food services, and medical services — industries that exist in the N.W.T.
The issue, said Clinton, is that right now demand for these services is greater than the local supply.
The N.W.T.’s ability to benefit from the Giant Mine cleanup, he added, extends only as far as its capacity to meet the project’s labour and business demands.
“If you want to grow the economy and benefit from spending that’s going to occur on Giant Mine, or other remediation projects around the territory, then it’s about addressing supply issues in all of those industries, such that you can capture a greater proportion or greater share of the money that’s entering the economy,” he said.
Remediation project not meeting employment targets
The federally-run Giant Mine Remediation Project tracks employment by hours worked. It reported that Northerners worked around 45 per cent of the total labour hours, on average, and Indigenous employees worked around 21 per cent.
The remediation project is below its employment targets in both categories.
Its target for hours worked by Northerners is between 55 and 70 per cent, and its target for Indigenous workers is 25 to 35 per cent.
Giant Mine’s remediation began in 2020 and is set to wrap up in 2038.
Natalie Plato, deputy director of the remediation project, said the team extended its timeline by nine years, in large part to maximize participation by N.W.T. workers and businesses.
Natalie Plato is the deputy director of the Giant Mine Remediation Project. She said the project team extended its timeline by 9 years, in large part to maximize participation by N.W.T. workers and businesses. (Liny Lamberink/CBC)
Clinton said it’s perhaps unrealistic to expect 100 per cent of the work at Giant Mine to be carried out by Northerners, but that that would be the target if the government sought to reap the maximum benefit from remediation.
‘Better late than never’
“If we really want to build the capacity in the Northwest Territories, it comes back to our education system,” said Great Slave MLA Katrina Nokleby.
“We’re not graduating people in the Northwest Territories that can then go on to become these specific type of professionals that are needed for Giant Mine.”
Frame Lake MLA Kevin O’Reilly asked if it was too late in the project’s timeline to capture more of the spending happening at the mine.
“Better late than never,” replied Livingstone. “But it’s not going to happen on its own.”
TORONTO – Strength in the base metal and technology sectors helped Canada’s main stock index gain almost 100 points on Friday, while U.S. stock markets also climbed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 93.51 points at 23,568.65.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 297.01 points at 41,393.78. The S&P 500 index was up 30.26 points at 5,626.02, while the Nasdaq composite was up 114.30 points at 17,683.98.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.61 cents US compared with 73.58 cents US on Thursday.
The October crude oil contract was down 32 cents at US$68.65 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down five cents at US$2.31 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$30.10 at US$2,610.70 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents US$4.24 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says wholesale sales, excluding petroleum, petroleum products, and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grain, rose 0.4 per cent to $82.7 billion in July.
The increase came as sales in the miscellaneous subsector gained three per cent to reach $10.5 billion in July, helped by strength in the agriculture supplies industry group, which rose 9.2 per cent.
The food, beverage and tobacco subsector added 1.7 per cent to total $15 billion in July.
The personal and household goods subsector fell 2.5 per cent to $12.1 billion.
In volume terms, overall wholesale sales rose 0.5 per cent in July.
Statistics Canada started including oilseed and grain as well as the petroleum and petroleum products subsector as part of wholesale trade last year, but is excluding the data from monthly analysis until there is enough historical data.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 150 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in the base metal and energy sectors, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 172.18 points at 23,383.35.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 34.99 points at 40,826.72. The S&P 500 index was up 10.56 points at 5,564.69, while the Nasdaq composite was up 74.84 points at 17,470.37.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.55 cents US compared with 73.59 cents US on Wednesday.
The October crude oil contract was up $2.00 at US$69.31 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up five cents at US$2.32 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$40.00 at US$2,582.40 an ounce and the December copper contract was up six cents at US$4.20 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
