Guy Quenneville
Northern News Services
Published Monday, February 4, 2008
YELLOWKNIFE - Proponents of the Northern mining industry are concerned the proposed Nahanni National Park Reserve expansion could rob the NWT of millions of dollars and hundreds of jobs that could be generated by potential mines in the area.
Yellowknife geologists and explorers recently got their first look at the results of a study conducted by the Geological Survey of Canada on the mineral potential of land falling under the proposed expansion area. The first boundary option would see 79 per cent of the land with "very high potential mineral" closed off to potential explorers, according to a presentation made at the NWT Geoscience Office last month by Danny Wright, the project leader of the survey.
A study conducted by G & K Consulting in 2003 predicted the direct GDP generated over 25 years from three potential mines in the area could be between $980 million to $2.3 billion, along with 300 annual jobs, though Wright said the study "has been heavily criticized."
The dollar value to be derived from exploration in the area, which showed strong potential for base and precious metals, is not something to be ignored, said Lou Covello, president of the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines.
Covello does not believe it is in the NWT's best interest to push forward with the park expansion announced by the federal government last summer. The Park Reserve is to grow from 4,766 to 28,000 square kilometres.
"This impairs (Deh Cho communities') ability to find employment in the mining sector, because the mining sector can no longer explore there," he said. "Once these lands are alienated, they're alienated in perpetuity. There's no possibility of ever changing those boundaries.
"This is, arguably, the jurisdiction that can least afford to give up its land, as really the only economic future for much of the NWT, outside of the Mackenzie Valley, is in mining."
The potential economic loss should be of concern to people outside the NWT, he added.
About a dozen people attended the presentation on the geological survey of the Nahanni expansion area.
Penelope Shaw, an independent prospector, said she admired the work that went into the study - she just wishes more would come of it.
"Why are we putting our very limited resources into an area where we're not going to make use of that information?" she said.
"We're not going to develop. We're not going to explore. Looking at the results, I saw four or five good projects that I could work. But it doesn't appear we're going to be using it that way, or that we're using it at all. We put a lot of money into geoscience that's essentially being ignored."
Gordon Hamre, the Northern Parks Advisor for Parks Canada, said while he respects the contending business interests, the ultimate decision on the new park boundaries will rest with the federal government - but not before it is debated substantially.
"Parks Canada's mandate is to create national parks," he said. "That's our business and our responsibility on behalf of the government of Canada.
"But the final decision is made by Parliament."
