YELLOWKNIFE - While news of a high Canadian dollar makes many business people across the country shudder, few Northern industries seem nonplussed.

In fact many see positive effects of the recent surge in the dollar.

As of last Thursday, the Canadian dollar had reached just over $0.90 to the U.S. dollar. In 2002, the dollar hit a decade low of $0.62 to the US dollar.

"In terms of exploration I donít think itís having any significant effect," said Mike Vaydik, general manger of the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines.

Exploration companies in Nunavut and the NWT have focused on precious metals and diamonds, whose demand tends not to be affected by fluctuations in the dollar. Vaydik said that a greater effect will be felt in jurisdictions that mine base metals such as copper or zinc.

Vaydik even put a positive spin on the upturn. "It makes our purchases of mining equipment in foreign countries cheaper," he said. A great deal of equipment is made in Sweden and the US.

"The other side of the coin is that our products have to compete harder," Vaydik said.

Peregrine Diamonds, which explores both the NWT and Nunavut, has not been deterred by the strong loonie.

"Our exploration programs are still moving forward and the fluctuating dollar has little effect on our plans," said Jim Crawford, manager of investor relations with Peregrine.

"If it takes a huge leap or dive, weíll obviously have to reassess, but the fluctuations right now have not been extreme enough to effect us," Crawford said.

The mineral exploration budget for 2007 in Nunavut is $225 million, the highest it has ever been, according to Bob Long, president of the Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce.

The industry that could feel the effects the most is tourism.

"Tourism overall has gone up when the dollar goes down and goes down when the dollar goes up," Long said.

In the NWT itís a slightly different story. Tourists plan trips to the territory and it is often a once-in-a-lifetime visit, according to John Bass, NWT Tourismís communications and public relations co-ordinator. Once a trip is planned, not much will deter tourists from visiting.

"The effect of the strong dollar isnít going to be as detrimental here as it would be at short-haul distances, such as across the borders in BC or Ontario," Bass said.

The advantage of the strong dollar is that NWT Tourism can now market itself more in the US. It can buy more advertising space in newspapers and magazines and attend more consumer shows.

"It will enable us to potentially attract more visitors," Bass said.