SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Projects as varied as the Taltson River hydro expansion and a deep water port in Tuktoyaktuk vied for attention during the first ever Strategic Northern Infrastructure Symposium held in Yellowknife last week.

From left, Doug Turnbull, deputy chairman of TD Securities, and Gord McCreary, president and CEO of Baffinland Iron Mines, which is developing the Mary River iron ore deposit near Pond Inlet, take a breather between panel discussions at the first Annual Strategic Northern Infrastructure Symposium. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo

About 230 delegates - "a who's who of Northern development," as Minister Bob McLeod put it - attended the event, which was hosted by the Northern Strategy Group, a group of consultants including Brendan Bell, the former minister of tourism, industry and investment for the GNWT.

The event really didn't get going until Kim Truter, president of Diavik Diamond Mines Inc., made a presentation highlighting how dependent the NWT economy is on the mining sector and the importance of planning for infrastructure to service future mining operations.

"The three diamond mines contribute more than 50 per cent of the GDP in the North," said Truter, adding the end of some of those mines is already in sight.

"We're heading toward a dramatic decline between 2020 and 2030. So the challenge I'd like to leave the government with is, what are you going to do about that?"

Truter's presentation - which forecasts a severe drop in the territory's GDP during that period - prompted moderator and NWT Chamber of Commerce Vice-President Curtis Shaw to ask McLeod for his thoughts on economic diversification.

"Most of the projects that are out there need access to roads and to power," said McLeod. "So certainly that's a challenge for us."

But he pointed to the Mackenzie Gas Project as a potential springboard for additional economic activity in the years to come.

"We think that the Mackenzie Valley pipeline, when you look at the reserves and the potential of oil and gas, they're about 10 times what the diamond mines have produced in terms of GDP ... the Mackenzie pipeline would be a basin-opening project. That, combined with devolution and resource revenue sharing, I see it as the way of the future, at least for the Northwest Territories."

Chantal Lavoie, chief operating officer of De Beers Canada, said he shared Truter's concerns about the future economy of the NWT, adding the uncertainty around the Taltson River hydro expansion project is making it difficult for the miner to plan the development of its Gahcho Kue joint venture with partner Mountain Province Diamonds.

"There's some great mines right now in operation," said Lavoie. "There's possible mines coming, like Gahcho Kue. But what people need to realize is that, most likely, (even if) Gahcho Kue gets permitted (and) gets the go-ahead, by 2025, there won't be much left here in terms of diamond mining."