Journal of Commerce
Toronto may be the global centre for mining finance but recent statistics on capital development spending in the sector illustrate that the three sparsely populated territories in Canada’s North are also notable heavyweights.
The most recent edition of Facts of Figures of the Canadian Mining Industry, published in March by the Mining Association of Canada (MAC), showed that the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut together received 22 per cent, or $570 million, of total 2017 Canadian spending on exploration and the territories also accounted for 13 per cent ($990 million) of total mine complex development expenditures in Canada.
Facts and Figures 2018, prepared by MAC’s vice-president for economic and northern affairs Brendan Marshall, offers ample evidence of the links between permitting certainty, investment climate and the prognosis for future spending on development — and thus how much work constructors hired to build mine infrastructure can look forward to.
“People don’t invest in a jurisdiction if they don’t have confidence you can permit it, and you won’t invest to the permitting stage if you don’t believe you can afford to build it and make money off of it,” Marshall said in an interview.
With investments in new mines falling in recent years, MAC’s report called on governments to take concrete steps to bolster Canada’s status as a destination for international resource investment dollars.
For the rest of this article: https://canada.constructconnect.com/joc/news/economic/2019/04/northern-spending-pays-off-mac-report-shows