N.W.T. gov't sets up mining industry panel to advise minister

The Northwest Territories government is creating a regular forum that will allow members of the mining and exploration industry to make recommendations to David Ramsay, the minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, on issues such as the regulatory process and promoting the N.W.T. to investors.

Ramsay announced plans to form the N.W.T.'s first-ever minerals advisory board on Tuesday night at the annual Mineral Exploration Roundup in Vancouver.

The news comes a week after the release of new estimates suggesting that mineral exploration spending in the territory, while up from the previous year, is still down sharply from the years before the 2008 global recession.

Ramsay says the advisory board "is going to give us information on how we can make the Northwest Territories the best mining jurisdiction that we can make it."

The board will consist of five to seven members and will be handpicked by Ramsay, with advice from his department. 

"I think it's important that we have a good cross-section of the mining industry," he said. "It would be people who are involved in the service side, producers, explorers."

Asked if the board will make room for any non-mining members, Ramsay said, "That's yet to be determined."

Yellowknife MLA Bob Bromley says regular, non-cabinet MLAs were not consulted about the creation of the advisory board. He says they were only informed about the advisory board by letter approximately three days before Ramsay's announcement.

"It was a done deal. It was an announcement to us too, despite this being a consensus government," said Bromley.

"The minister has, from the moment he started the Mineral Development Strategy, taken this bent that the public has no right to have a role with public policy."    

Bromley says his skepticism about the strategy also stems from a previous decision by Ramsay's department to hire Pamela Strand as the director of the department's mineral resources division.

Strand formerly served as CEO of Shear Diamonds, which once owned the Jericho diamond mine in Nunavut. Strand resigned from Shear before the company went bankrupt, leaving taxpayers to cover the $2-million shortfall in clean-up money for Jericho.

"When our division directors in these divisions are actually executives that have been hired from the mining industry and have a failed performance record that has cost the public, that's completely irresponsible and a bit scary," said Bromley.

Not a new concept

The concept of a minerals advisory board is not a new one in the North. The Yukon has had one since 1999.

In 2013, Yukon's nine-member panel (excluding the chair) included five representatives from mining or exploration companies, one representative from a mining investment corporation, and one representative apiece from the Yukon Chamber of Mines, the Yukon Mine Training Association and the Klondike Placer Miners’ Association.

Ramsay hopes to have his first meeting with the N.W.T. advisory board in May. 

The board is the latest measure to be adopted from the territorial government's Mineral Development Strategy, introduced in 2013. Last year, under its new Mining Incentive Program, the government gave out $375,000 to six companies developing mineral exploration projects in the territory.

"As we move forward, we really need to revisit that number," Ramsay said, adding that requests for funding under that program totalled $1.2 million.

As for the mineral exploration scene in N.W.T., Ramsay, based on feedback received at Mineral Exploration Roundup, said, "I think we'll see a continued climb."