This article was originally in Canadian Mining Magazine.
Nunavut is booming. With record mineral investment this year expected to top $550 million, Nunavut is the fourth largest mining investment destination in Canada. With Agnico-Eagle’s Meadowbank gold mine settling into its third year of production, and significant other project investments, mining has risen to 15% of the economy. Statistics Canada says Nunavut recorded the largest economic increase in Canada this past year.
More opportunity is coming. At press time, Baffinland Iron Mines was awaiting the final decision from the Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) for its massive Mary River iron project on North Baffin Island to proceed to permitting. This project proposes construction of Canada’s most northerly railroad and a port to serve the mine, and of course would drive significant jobs and business opportunities for Nunavut and Canada.
As another precedent setter, it would pay $100 million annually in royalties to the Inuit land claim organization, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., perhaps the largest mining benefit to an Aboriginal group in the country. Given the project’s size and opportunities, it will cement mining as the foundation of Nunavut’s future economy.