NWT - The third Start Your Engines! Transportation Logistics trade show took place last week in Hay River from Apr. 17-19, drawing 140 delegates for three days of information sessions, presentations and networking opportunities.

Lou Covello, former president of the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines, gave voice to growing doubts about the economic viability of the $16.2 billion Mackenzie Gas Project during a presentation on infrastructure in the north. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo

It was a more modest affair compared to two years ago, when 200 delegates attended.

News/North pursed through the talks to gather the pertinent news items.

Pine Point producer still looking for cash

Those who attended the trade show two years ago doubtless experienced a sense of deja vu during Wolf Schleiss' presentation on Tamerlane Ventures' plan to reopen the Pine Point lead and zinc mine, located 42 km east of Hay River.

As Tamerlane's vice president of operations stated, the company is still searching for funding for the fully-permitted, $114 million mine, whose current life is estimated at nine years but could be extended to as many as 20 years.

"We're ready for financing," said Schleiss.

Construction of the mine will provide full-time job opportunities to 50 to 70 local people, with Tamerlane targeting residents in Hay River and Fort Resolution. Between 140 and 180 will be needed during mine operations.

"We'll try to hire as many people as we can locally," said Schleiss, adding that Pine Point would generate approximately $12 million in local labour income and increase the employment rate in the area by 2.5 per cent.

Avalon looks to Hay River for hydromet plant

Pine Point isn't the only project with the potential to boost activity in the hub.

It has been rumoured for several months that Avalon Rare Metals is weighing whether to make Hay River the location of the hydrometallurgical facility that will handle material from Avalon's Nechalacho rare earths deposit near Yellowknife.

At the trade show, David Swisher, vice president of operations, confirmed that Hay River is indeed Avalon's current top choice for the plant.

While the mine itself will create between 180 to 200 full-time positions, the hydromet plant, as it is nicknamed, will create an addition 80 to 90 full-time jobs.

Most mineral exploration projects go through a series of three economic assessments, each discussing in increasing detail the project's financing, construction and operation: the preliminary assessment (also known as the scoping study), the pre-feasibility study and the bankable feasibility study.

Swisher said Nechalacho's pre-feasibility study, originally scheduled for release in March, is now poised for release in three to four weeks.

Ex-mines chamber president glum on pipeline

Lou Covello, former president of the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines, was again pitching his ambitious plan for orderly development of mine-related infrastructure in the north, including, most prominently, nuclear power and mining towns.

Things got really interesting during question and answer period, when Jim Guthrie, general manager of Kulluk Arctic Services ULC, questioned the validity of establishing towns at mine sites, given their limited lifespans.

"We're finding that fly in, fly out is not all that it is cracked up to be," countered Covello. "There are a lot of people that don't want to be away from their families for two to three to four weeks at a time. There's a certain amount of resentment amongst many people in these fly-in, fly-out operations."

After News/North asked why the Mackenzie Gas Project was not factored into Covello's infrastructure plan, he said, "Personally, I think the chamber generally believes that the Mackenzie Gas Project is not going to go ahead."

Covello added that it would make more sense to draw shale gas from the Horn River basin located mainly in British Columbia than to build the $16.2 billion Mackenzie pipeline.