Mr. Chairman, our first preference is to serve our own needs in our territory. We are negotiating with the mining companies. We don't have a firm deal with them yet. They will need to see some fairly specific numbers and we can't provide that to them yet. As I said earlier, there is a strong interest in it with Gahcho Kue in environmental review now and the potential of four mines. We certainly have a good, strong customer base in the diamond mining areas.
The one obstacle that we are not 100 percent over yet, because of the political difficulties of Lutselk'e, is the transmission line going through the Lutselk'e traditional area. The leaders there tell us that they don't have difficulty with a power line going through their area as long as there is no development on the Lockhart River, which we hadn't planned on doing anyway. That should also be lined up more once we know more of the specifics on the project.
Mr. Chairman, the other is on the southern markets. That is always plan B. We are very aware, as is the Alberta government, that there is a growing need for clean energy. As the Minister of ENR said the other day, they are dusting off a proposal for a hydro project on the Slave River. We clearly believe that the money we are investing now is not wasted. It's going to be money that's going to be used at some point, whether it's a northern customer or southern customer. That money will be well invested now and will be useful in the future. The environment isn't going to change, nor is the technology going to change.
So we don't have a firmed up customer yet. We expect to have one this spring. We are aiming at having a project that would go into environmental review within months. Thank you.