Once one of the anchors of the Yellowknife economy, Giant Mine is now in trouble. The price of gold has slipped considerably in the last year and seems to stuck at about $285-90 an ounce.
Last fall, the GNWT granted Giant Mine a $1.5 million subsidy to maintain employment. The city gave the mine a $37,000 development grant last November, despite the fact that Giant was in tax arrears to the tune of over $700,000.
In the last 52 weeks shares have dropped from $2.42 to as low as 28 cents. They are currently trading at about 40 cents.
Speaking of share prices, Peggy Witte cashed out her options on 1.27 million shares at somewhere between $1.05 and $1.30.
If money worries weren't enough to contend with, Royal Oak is examining the options available to deal with the 182,000 tonnes of arsenic trioxide stored underground at the site.
Arsenic trioxide is a byproduct of extracting gold from mined rock.
In order to renew its water licence, Royal Oak must submit plans for the cleanup and reclamation of the mine site.
Kevin O'Reilly, research director of the Canadian Arctic Research Committee, says he has seen estimates running as high as an astronomical $1 billion to clean up the highly toxic waste. Leaving the arsenic out of the equation, Royal Oak's guess at the cost of cleaning up the mine is $9.2 million plus continued maintenance costs of over $300,000 a year.
Where's this money coming from?
Given the circumstances, Giant Mine is strangely silent. With all the funding the mine has received from taxpayers, we have a vested interest in knowing what is going on.
Yellowknifers should prepare themselves for life after Giant. All levels of government should prepare themselves to take over the cost of the cleanup.
They might start by asking Ms. Witte for a donation.
In last Friday's Yellowknifer, there was a picture of an automobile accident. The picture ran with a story on safety complaints some residents of Morrison Drive had over local traffic.
Underneath the story and picture was a story on the city's decision not to ban snowmobiles on city streets.
Those supporting the ban point to instances of reckless snowmobile operation and the potential danger. The automobile accident picture refutes that logic.
Cars are dangerous but we don't ban them. Snowmobiles are no different and all efforts to increase safety should be directed at banning speeding drivers instead.
We hope city council continues to see it that way.
Yellowknifer Ron Trimble's recent good deed is a sure sign our city still carries with it a little of that small town atmosphere of days gone by.
Trimble found a $100 bill embedded a snowbank near his house. Upon learning that his neighbour, Grace Burton, had lost a $100 bill -- it was literally stolen by the wind on Christmas Day as she headed to Bruno's -- he didn't hesitate to return it to her.
The fact that Trimble, declined to take a reward, is another indication that Yellowknife, despite its big-city mentality, is still at times a small, friendly place at heart.
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
Last week's Kivalliq Trade Mission to Manitoba made good business and economic sense in a number of ways and also made strides in portraying a united front from the Keewatin business community, a positive step with the reality of Nunavut now just two short months away.
All seven Keewatin communities had representatives on the mission, expressing the visions and concerns of municipal, territorial, regional organizational and business interests.
In visiting the town of Churchill and the cities of Winnipeg and Thompson, the mission strongly emphasized the fact that Kivalliq communities spend more than $250 million annually on goods and services from Manitoba businesses.
The underlying message in all this is that it's time Manitoba businesses and government agencies started recognizing their province's vested interest in the economic solidity of the Keewatin Region and move to better balance the exchange of goods and services between the two.
A healthy and prosperous Keewatin means more expendable revenue available for Manitoba products, especially in the area of non-essential goods. Too often, what the Keewatin has to offer is perceived as solely arts and crafts, mainly of the carving variety.
And, while arts and crafts are vital links in the region's cottage industry chain, they by no means represent the entire picture. The Keewatin is poised to expand economically, led by mining, construction, retail and transportation growth.
Our region's tourism industry is still in its infancy and, properly maintained and promoted, has incredible growth potential. Winter tourism, in itself, is enjoying immense popularity around the globe as a new breed of tourist -- one who enjoys participating more than watching -- is starting to become prevalent in the industry.
When one adds the purity, magic, historical significance and uniqueness of the Arctic, its increased popularity as a tourist destination seems inevitable. Uniqueness also plays a role with Arctic food producers who, with proper promotion and consumer targeting, are also poised on the brink of a growth spurt. Should, of course, all this come to pass, more and more regional jobs will be created and our economic stability and self-sufficiency further strengthened.
The timing couldn't have been better for Kivalliq leaders to bring the message of our region's promise to Manitoba. The Keewatin has, for years, been a valuable consumer of products from the western province and it's time Manitoba started giving something back to a region that has contributed so much to its own economic prosperity.
While the Kivalliq Trade Mission did not, and should not have been expected to create miracles overnight, it accomplished its goal of trumpeting our region's promise and expectations which could very well mark the beginning of a dawn of a new Keewatin era in its own right.