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New gold mines are expected to drive strong economic growth in Nunavut and Yukon over the next several years, according to the latest Territorial Outlook published by The Conference Board of Canada. The non-profit think tank focused primarily on researching and analyzing economic trends, however, forecasts a shrinking economy for Northwest Territories as the diamond sector there matures.
Despite a tepid recovery for the mining sector as a whole, the new mines being developed in Nunavut and Yukon are expected to drive a 4.7 percent economic growth across Canada’s three territories in 2019 and 4.5 percent in 2020 – easily outpacing the Canadian average, which is forecast to be less than 2 percent growth.
“While the mining sector has been more cautious in this upswing cycle than in the past, there are still several mining projects that are advancing through the approval process and will bolster economic growth and employment opportunities in the northern territories over the next few years,” said Marie-Christine Bernard, director, provincial and territorial forecast, The Conference Board of Canada.
Agnico drives Nunavut growth
The Conference Board of Canada foresees Nunavut’s economy growing at a blistering pace of 7.3 percent per year until 2020 and averaging 4.6 percent growth annually out to 2025. Much of this economic expansion is driven by Meliadine and Amaruq, gold mines Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. plans to ramp up to commercial production next year.
Located near Rankin Inlet, a village on the coast of Hudson Bay, the 111,757-hectare (276,157 acres) Meliadine project hosts Agnico Eagle’s largest gold deposit in terms of mineral resources.
At the end of 2017, Meliadine hosted 16 million metric tons of proven and probable mineral reserves averaging 7.12 g/t (3.7 million ounces) gold; 25.3 million metric tons of indicated resources averaging 3.77 g/t (3.1 million oz) gold; and 13.8 million metric tons of inferred resources averaging 6.04 g/t (2.7 million oz) gold.
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