http://www.mining.com/gold-mines-inject-new-life-canadas-far-north/
New mining projects, particularly in the gold sector, are expected to drive strong economic growth in Canada’s far north, with Yukon and Nunavut surpassing the rest of Canada by 2020, a new report shows.
According to The Conference Board of Canada’s latest
Territorial Outlook, the nearby Northwest Territories (N.W.T.), however, face challenging times as the diamond industry there matures and production of precious stones is forecast to fall over the next six years. Yet the N.W.T is set to benefit from the growth the mines in Nunavut and the Yukon will bring, mostly in other areas of the economy, with growth in services-based industries remaining flat for much of the forecast.
“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.
Fuelled by the construction and operation of new mines, economic growth in the territories as a whole is forecast to average 4.7% in 2019 and 4.5% in 2020 — easily outpacing the forecast Canadian average of below 2% growth.
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/mineral-resources
Regional Distribution of Mineral Resources
Canada covers nearly 10 million km2 and has six main
geological regions, each with its own characteristic features and resources. Five of these regions and their respective mineral resources are discussed here. The sixth, Canada’s
continental shelf, is a source of oil and natural gas.
Canadian Shield
The
Canadian Shield is made up of Precambrian rock and underlies about half the total area of Canada. This vast expanse of ancient Precambrian igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks, glacial overburden, forest and muskeg has been Canada's leading source of precious and base metals. The area has large amounts of base metals,
gold,
iron ore and
uranium. Because of its large size and favourable geological features, the Canadian Shield has ongoing potential for the discovery of many additional mineral deposits.
Innuitian Orogen
This region, which lies primarily in the Arctic Archipelago, is underlain mainly by folded and gently dipping sedimentary rocks. The older
limestone of the Cornwallis Belt contains zinc and lead, including the rich Arvik deposit on Little Cornwallis Island,
Nunavut. Other minerals, including rock salt and gypsum, have also been identified in the region but are not currently economic to mine in such a remote location.
https://geology.com/articles/canada-diamond-mines/
Diamonds in Canada?
Throughout the 20th century most people would never have thought about
Canada being an important producer of
diamonds. [1] Most people's knowledge of diamonds was fixed on mining operations in
Africa and diamond trading centers in
Europe.
All of this started to change in 1991 when two geologists, Chuck Fipke and Stewart Blusson, found evidence of diamond-bearing
kimberlite pipes about 200 miles north of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. One of these pipes was developed by BHP Billiton into the EKATI Diamond Mine, which produced Canada's first commercial diamonds in 1998.
https://business.financialpost.com/commodities/mining/arctic-has-great-riches-but-greater-challenges
At the rim of the Arctic Circle in Canada, gold mining firm Agnico-Eagle is learning how tough it is to operate in a remote region with temptingly large, but frustratingly inaccessible, reserves of oil, gas and minerals.
Commentators rarely mention nightmarish logistics, polar bears and steel-snapping cold when they confidently predict that as the Arctic warms up, melting sea ice and shorter winters will open up the expanse to exploration.
But the rosy words obscure the reality of working in an icy wasteland that stretches across Russia, Scandinavia, Alaska and Canada. And rather than making life easier, the warming of the Arctic and the thawing of its permafrost could make operating here even more complicated.
A closer look at the far northern Canadian territory of Nunavut, one of the most promising areas for exploration, reveals challenges so huge that the Arctic may well turn out to be a niche market where big firms with a serious tolerance for risk and adversity develop a handful of major deposits.
https://www.northernminer.com/subscribe-login/?id=1003795675
Far North Snapshot
: Seven companies active in the Arctic and near-Arctic
With metal prices on the rise, mineral projects and mines in the Far North are once again becoming more attractive, and companies are devoting more funds this year to work programs. Here is a quick look at seven such companies....
http://www.miningnorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Final-13-201_FutureofMining_CFN.pdf