NWT/NUNAVUT - The NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Commerce has drafted an ambitious plan to develop infrastructure servicing 31 potential new mines that includes a trans-Northern electrical grid, nuclear power plants, roads through the Slave Geological Province and Kivalliq region and mining towns at the former Lupin mine and Mary River.

Lou Covello, president of the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines, says the chamber's plan is needed if future development of infrastructure is to happen in an orderly and co-ordinated fashion. The chamber has a number of proposals for new infrastructure in both Nunavut and the NWT. The suggestions range from new mining towns and roads to the development of nuclear power plants to help mines reduce reliance on fuel. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo

But initial reactions to the plan cast doubt on the its priorities and chances of support among communities.

The plan - which has been the subject of brief, informal discussions between the chamber, the GNWT's Economic Development and Infrastructure Standing Committee and Peter Taptuna, Minister of Economic Development and Transportation in Nunavut (who declined to comment for this story) - calls for orderly and shared development of infrastructure between industry and government, said Lou Covello, president of the chamber.

"The idea is to maximize the benefits that (the) territories derive from these deposits," said Covello. "If we don't do these, all of these deposits will be developed, but they will be developed in a much less efficient manner than they would if we had some infrastructure to help them."

Covello used BHP Billiton's Ekati Diamond Mine, which some predict could close as soon as 2018, as an example of an existing mine that could benefit from the approach he laid out.

"Ekati has about 60 million tonnes of currently economic reserves ... At their current cost of mining, it's not feasible to extract that ore and mill it.

"...if we can bring power from down south ... and generate power from efficient power plants from right across the North - that 60 million tonnes could become economic and could add another 20 years to the mine life," he said.