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NWT
A three-year, multimillion-dollar project dedicated to continued geoscience research and data analysis in the Northwest Territories was announced at a joint press conference held in the Great Hall of the legislative assembly Tuesday morning.

Leona Aglukkaq, federal minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor), addressed questions regarding a leaked audit document that showed CanNor officials had transgressed financial management rules. Aglukkaq and ITI Minister David Ramsay held a joint press conference in Yellowknife Tuesday morning. - Galit Rodan/NNSL photo

Leona Aglukkaq, federal minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor), and David Ramsay, territorial minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment (ITI), came together to discuss the importance of geoscience data in furthering economic development.

"Geoscience research reduces the exploration risks for mining companies and allows government and private industry to make informed decisions about the development of mineral resources. All of this translates into long-term jobs for local residents, a real economic benefit," said Aglukkaq.

CanNor will provide $3.275 million, the bulk of the funding. The GNWT's ITI department will contribute $1.1 million and the private sector will provide an additional $900,000 for a total of $5.275 million over three years, from 2011 to 2014.

The project is aimed at under-explored areas with high resource potential, including the Cordilleran, Mackenzie Plain, Wopmay-Great Bear, Slave and Churchill geological zones.

The initiative will involve targeted bedrock mapping, petroleum and mineral deposit studies, regional geochemical surveys, geophysical data collection and interpretation and technical support through the hiring of a geographic information systems technician.

John Ketchum, senior geologist with the Northwest Territories Geoscience Office, which is spearheading the work, said because there has been little exploration in the targeted areas, there are no predictions about what resources might be found. "We're dealing with the unknown," he said. "But we can focus our work in areas of higher resource potential where … there's a higher chance of finding something of interest and potentially of economic value. So we soldier on hoping for the best but the key is we're able to do the work in the first place."

Despite the positive tone of the event, Aglukkaq came under fire for a leaked audit document obtained by a media outlet showing CanNor officials had transgressed financial management rules.

"The audit that came out is a process audit," said Aglukkaq. "I can also say that there's no misappropriation of funding, there's no fraud, there's no over budget issues. It was strictly a process audit and we are making the improvements that are necessary to ensure that program funding gets out to the communities and we'll work through that. In fact it's already being addressed."

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