Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to provide Members of the Legislative Assembly with an update on the Socio-Economic Agreement signed by our
government and BHP in October, 1996. Members will recall that the agreement provided commitments on employment and business opportunities arising from the BHP NWT Diamond Project. I am encouraged that BHP has opted to release quarterly statistics even though the Socio-Economic Agreement only requires an annual report. I am also encouraged that the company remains a proponent of open dialogue and promotes public access to information about the mine site.
Since the agreement was signed, my department and other departments have been working very closely with BHP, and I am pleased to report that the commitments outlined in the agreement are being met to our satisfaction. It is encouraging to see northerners and northern businesses directly benefiting from the project. BHP is more than satisfying the minimum local business procurement targets established under the Socio-Economic Agreement. As of the end of July, the total value of goods and services purchased for the construction phase of the project was $250 million. Of this amount, $131 million or 53 percent was purchased from northern businesses. This figure far exceeds the 28 percent target established under the Socio-Economic Agreement.
BHP is also meeting its employment targets. The agreement requires 33 percent of total employment during the construction phase of the project to be northern and 14 percent of all employment to be aboriginal. The company's figures show that 46 percent of total employment has been northern and 19 percent aboriginal.
Mr. Speaker, BHP is to be congratulated on its efforts todate. But we must be vigilant to make sure that any skilled northerner who would like to work at the mine site is given the opportunity to go after a job. I view targets as being a minimum and therefore expect the targets will be exceeded throughout the life of the project. Mr. Speaker, at this time it is premature to comment on the monitoring of community health and wellness indicators. These indicators are assessed on an annual basis and would, therefore, not be reported before the end of October. However I would like to acknowledge the work that has been completed todate under the community mobilization initiative. The initiative is an industry led partnership with northern business and communities created to maximize job and business opportunities for northern and aboriginal people for mining and related industry projects. This initiative continues to evolve thanks in part to assistance from a variety of corporate sponsors.
I want to reaffirm our government's position that large scale projects such as BHP Diamond Mine must provide employment and business opportunities to northerners. Our challenge is to continue working to maximize employment and business benefits arising, not only from the BHP project but also from development projects in the future.
Lawyers have an obligation, each has to do his or her part to ensure their children benefit from resource utilization. Our youth have to stay in school. Some residents will have to take upgrading. Training courses have to be taken and completed as without skills there will be few jobs. The time arising for this mine is a long one. The current projection for the BHP property is a lifespan of 25 years and there will be other mines. Thank you.