Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Yellowknife is the gateway to the Slave Geological Province. The Greenstone Belt runs north through Yellowknife with high potential for generating wealth. In fact, a number of projects are reawakening in the area, promising jobs and prosperity for generations to come.
There are just six high-grade gold districts in Canada, and ours appears to be the most promising. It is the least explored, yet has the greatest potential. The other five districts have all been long-term, multi-generational economic and social drivers for their communities and provinces. The Yellowknife Gold District dropped off the radar when Giant and Con mines closed. At that time, gold was closer to $225 an ounce. Now it's almost $1,700 per ounce.
Mr. Speaker, TerraX has been steadily promoting the Yellowknife City Gold Project. This company has been open, proactive, and transparent. It has engaged with numerous stakeholder groups and continues to do so before each year's exploration program.
Six years ago, TerraX started with 26 square kilometres. It has now expanded to 770 square kilometres in an area that includes three past producing mines. It has taken over 10,000 samples, held over 12,000 engagements, drilled over 50 kilometres of core sample, and is always seeking to exploit new technologies. The Yellowknife City Gold Project has grown into a world-class district and, as we know, it opens the corridor north into the Slave Geological Province.
In last Wednesday's paper, TerraX listed many of the community's recreational, educational, tourism, and scientific events that the company supports. Many of these events share the legacy of exploration trails in the area. Rather than restrict access, TerraX actively promotes the safe coordinated co-usage of our surrounding trails and ice roads.
Mr. Speaker, proponents of the project believe that responsible, environmentally sustainable development can generate a century of social and economic prosperity for the Yellowknife Gold District. It's an opportunity for long-term, multi-generational training, employment, and wealth that can support clean jobs, independent families, and healthy communities well into the future.
Mr. Speaker, the Greenstone Belt to the Slave Geological Province holds the potential for wealth that can offer us that future. Mr. Speaker, it's up to us to seize the opportunity and make that future possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.