IQALUIT
Whenever the subject of mining comes up in the territory, so does the question of Inuit involvement and benefits, and that's the theme of this year Nunavut Mining Symposium.

The theme for the Nunavut Mining Symposium, from April 4 to 7 in Iqaluit, is "balancing our investment." Hugues Lamer, director general of Solva-Rec, left, chats with Johnny Flaherty and Jeremiah Veevee of Qikiqtani Industry Limited at the 2015 Nunavut Mining Symposium trade show. - NNSL file photo

"I think the theme of the mining symposium is very important this year," said steering committee member Bernie MacIsaac about the "balancing our investment" theme to this year's show.

"What that means is here we're talking about mineral development, mining, exploration, so how can we lever that activity, which is based on the riches that are found within the territory, to improve the quality of life for people in the territory?

"How can we use mineral development to enhance our infrastructure or create jobs or create training opportunities?"

That is going to take a well-rounded effort from communities, governments, individuals and companies to all buy into the idea that this is all for the common good of the territory, he said.

"If there's one message that I'd like to see come out of the mining symposium it's that we're all working together for the betterment and the evolution of the territory."

This year's conference, which brings together representatives from just about every organization involved with mining in the territory, whether government or company, is on track to have more than 400 delegates and 40 exhibitors.

The numbers are down slightly from past years. In 2011, the symposium saw more than 500 delegates, but symposium organizers noted that the same companies and organizations are all still present - they just might not be sending as many people.

Sixty-five speakers will provide their insight through different sessions and panels during the four-day conference, which covers topics such as regulatory issues, community engagement, investing in infrastructure and energy alternatives and exploration.

The trade show will be open to the public on April 6 briefly, but it is mostly a networking event for those in the industry.

A cultural event and gala on the night of April 6 will cap off the main portion of the conference.

Although commodities have taken a beating in recent times, MacIsaac said there is still a fair amount of mining activity going on in the territory, pointing to work in gold, iron, diamonds, base metals and even uranium.

"We don't have as much investment of capital right now to invest in exploration activity and the number of companies have gone down, but we're still within the top five jurisdictions in Canada and we're probably seeing about $200 million of exploration activity that's going to happen this year," he said, remembering back to a high of $500 million in 2008.

"It's a very cyclical business. Sooner or later this economic cycle will turn and things will get better. It always does, it's always been like that. But the level of interest that we see in the mining symposium really hasn't gone down."