https://nnsl.com/yellowknifer/
Diamond mines are the bloodstream for the NWT and Yellowknife, a source of economic vitality in the wake of the gold rush that birthed this city in the first place.
For most of the community’s history, the main reason people have come here has been to make a living off the rocks. The Earth’s many valuable ores have supported abundant mining jobs for generations.
And one miner’s job generates many others in this thriving town: schoolteachers, shopkeepers, doctors and nurses. But the mines, and the city and the jobs, are in trouble.
The territory’s three diamond mines – Diavik, Gacho Kue and Ekati – have reached peak production and are expected to close by 2034, according to a 2018 economic analysis by the Conference Board of Canada.
“That will lead an average of 2,300 people to leave the territory each year for other parts of Canada, 390 more than the number of people who will come to the Northwest Territories,” the report states. In 2017, those three mines contributed $1.1 billion to the GDP, which represented 28 per cent of the NWT economy.
That’s why the discovery of a new kimberlite pipe at the Gahcho Kue diamond mine – the first substantial discovery at the site in more than 20 years – should be welcome news to all Northerners.
For the rest of this editorial: https://nnsl.com/yellowknifer/editorial-mining-will-play-a-part/