TORONTO - All the players in the mining industry across NWT and Nunavut need to sing from the same songbook, according to the newly appointed mining chamber president.

John Kearney, left, chairman and president of Canadian Zinc Corporation, is seen here with Chuck Strahl, minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada in July. Kearney was selected as the new president of the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines at the organization's annual general meeting on Nov. 18 in Yellowknife. - photo courtesy of Canadian Zinc Corporation

John Kearney, chairman and president of Canadian Zinc Corporation, the company behind the Prairie Creek mine, was named president of the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines on Nov. 18 at its annual general meeting.

A director with the chamber for four years, Kearney felt he needed to do his part as a member of the chamber.

"The role of the chamber is important to represent the mining industry across the entire spectrum, from prospecting to exploration, mining and shut down," Kearney said from his office in Toronto, where he resides. "The importance of mining needs to be understood and it can play an important role in communication."

Kearney said the Northern mining industry faces major challenges ahead, especially when it comes to securing money to be invested in proposed projects. With exploration across Canada down over 40 per cent, and a staggering 81 per cent in the NWT and 60 per cent in Nunavut in 2009, the two territories need to appear sexy to investors.

"If the financial crisis has taught us anything is it can dry up very quickly," he said. "While there has been some positive changes in the demand for resources, it's still much more selective. We need to compete worldwide for investment dollars. That in turn means as mining needs to be seen as an attractive investment with a good risk reward ratio."

Getting the two territories in the upper echelons of the now cut throat industry means showcasing the North as a place where people can make money in the resource industry.

"It's harder to get the money and to get it you have to demonstrate that not only you have a good project but you've got a good environment to work," he said, highlighting community acceptance, regulatory certainty and aboriginal leadership support to go ahead. "The attractiveness of the two territories (has) not been well sold and it's not very obvious."

Kearney said the drawn out regulatory process is scaring companies away and, while there has been some improvements in the past year, there is still work to be done.

"A simple exploration project is no longer easily possible," Kearney said. "The regulatory process is effectively driving prospectors out of the territories and they're the lifeblood of the industry. Prospectors can no longer conduct a simple drilling process without an elaborate and costly permit."For the larger projects, the time lines are, I'm afraid, (compared) to other provinces and territories and even other countries, much longer. The process has gotten way too complicated. Companies can't afford to do it. It's a shame. The territories have very significant mineral potential."

One of the key components to making mining run more smoothly in the North is finding acceptance within the aboriginal leadership to see the importance of developing the industry.

"The engagement of the aboriginal communities is very crucial to the mining industry," he said.

"We need to embrace them more into our industry. We've seen in the diamond mines how the Tlicho have done very well and we, across the board, we need to engage very positively and pro actively with the leadership and communities. That's where a lot of the employment is going to come from."

With a federal government focused on the North, now is the time to act, particularly with the establishment of CanNor and the project development office this year, he noted.

"We have at this time, with this particular government, a federal government that wants to see more development in the North and as an association we need to take advantage of that message because it's not always been there," he said.

"It falls on everybody to convert that message into a reality.

"We have to all sing from the same songbook."