Mr. Speaker, as all honourable Members of this House know, I have been a consistent advocate of natural resources development and mineral exploration since I was elected almost two years ago. It is the life blood of our economy, representing almost 40 per cent of our GDP, and an important part of our heritage and the key to our future prosperity. Mr. Speaker, Northerners look optimistically towards the opportunities that future mining projects will create for our communities. Although we are all hoping for that next big discovery and see new projects at the scale of the Ekati or Daivik mines, today I would like to recognize the great success of the Northwest Territories' newest diamond mine: Gahcho Kue.
On September 20, the Gahcho Kue diamond mine has just celebrated its one-year anniversary since operations began. A joint venture between De Beers Canada and Mountain Province Diamonds, Gahcho Kue is the world's largest mine to open in the last 13 years, located at Kennady Lake, approximately 280 km northeast of Yellowknife and 80 km southeast of De Beers' Snap Lake Mine. This open-pit operation will employ about 530 workers and will produce almost 54 million carats of rough diamonds from an estimated 35 million tonnes of ore during its approximately 12-year lifespan.
Mr. Speaker, those are big numbers, but they translate into an even larger number for our economy: $5.3 billion in gross value added output. That means jobs for Northerners and proves the incredible potential of resource development industry and the future it holds for us all.
Mr. Speaker, it is projects like these that keep our territory from being dominated by public sector spending. It is projects like these that create real economic growth that benefits northern communities and northern businesses. It is projects like these that make the North what it is today, a place of opportunity, hard work, and limitless potential.
Mr. Speaker I offer my sincere congratulations to De Beers Canada, Mountain Province Diamonds, and the workers who have made the Gahcho Kue mine such a grand success, and I thank them for investing in the North and its peoples. I wish them only continued success for the future and hope that we see more mining success stories as we continue to support a prosperous future for our Northwest Territories. Thank you Mr. Speaker.