Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for my statement topic today, I want to talk about a new mining project in the NWT, which is the NICO project in the Tlicho region produced by the company Fortune Minerals. This project will be built near Whati connected to the new Tlicho All-Season Road and will be extracting important minerals such as cobalt, gold, bismuth, and copper. These minerals have a huge and increasing demand within the modern industrial economy. Cobalt is particularly a key mineral in the production of lithium ion batteries which is used to power many common consumer goods such as cell phones, tablets, laptops, wireless headphones, and electric vehicles, among others.
Mr. Speaker, the NICO project will provide the NWT with a much needed economic boost within a sector that has weakened greatly in the recent years - the mining sector.
However, there are two aspects to Fortune Minerals' plans regarding this mining project. The first is the extraction of the minerals, which is happening near Whati, and the second is the refining of those minerals which will be done in Lamont County, Alberta.
Mr. Speaker, I find it very curious and see a lost opportunity that Fortune Minerals decided to build a refinery for this project in a different province of where the minerals are being extracted, which hasn't been finalized yet, so it can still be renegotiated. Why didn't Fortune Minerals consider the NWT as the location to refine the minerals from the NICO project?
Fortune Minerals stated early on that their either was to build the refinery either in Saskatchewan or Alberta but no mention publicly whether the NWT was considered.
Mr. Speaker, given the state of the NWT economy and the overall decline of mining that the territory will be facing in the coming years, I think this overall project was a missed opportunity for the NWT.
The same can also be said about the Nechalacho Rare Earth Mine project at Thor Lake in Akaitcho Territory, which is extracting rare earth ore and shipping those rare earth concentrates to a production facility in Saskatoon.
In addition, it was announced recently that a new rare earth processing facility will open in Alaska which will separate the rare earth concentrates from the Saskatoon plant into rare earth oxides which are the valued items in consumer goods. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are looking for new ways to diversify, expand, and maximize the economic opportunities for the NWT, yet we fail to provide more desirable economic conditions to attract and secure greater investments. We must do better to have a stronger long-term economy, especially within the recovery of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lastly, Mr. Speaker, I want to acknowledge two concerned individuals who sent me information on this topic - Darryl Clarkson, a former principal at JBT School in Fort Smith, as well as Robert Beaulieu, a Salt River First Nation member who worked as a liaison officer for Indigenous hires at one of the mines. Both these men still care about what goes on here. I will have questions for the Minister of ITI later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause