Jennifer Obleman
Northern News Services
Published Monday, September 24, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - They say diamonds are forever. In the NWT, current finds are projected to last more like 20 years.

Randy Ottenbreit, operator of the Mackenzie Gas Project for Imperial Oil, talked about where the pipeline project is at with regards to permits, costs and hearings during a session at Prospects North looking at what could be the next big industry in the North. - Jennifer Obleman/NNSL photo

But Tom Hoefer, Diavik's manager of external and internal affairs, believes it could be longer.

"Diamonds are a really big thing," Hoefer said during a panel discussion on the future of mining in the NWT at the Prospects North business conference Thursday.

"The next big thing, I think, is to sustain the big thing," he said.

Hoefer recommended protecting existing diamond mines, locating more high quality deposits, creating infrastructure that would make it economically feasible to develop lower quality diamonds and leveraging other mining opportunities.

But Don Bubar, president of Avalon Ventures, believes the future of mining lies in rare metals like lithium, yttrium, and beryllium.

"I think the next big thing in minerals is rare metals," said Bubar.

The demand for rare metals, used in products like solar panels, flat screen TVs, LED light bulbs, rechargeable batteries and hybrid cars will increase as society's concern for the environment fuels a greener economy, Bubar predicted. The rare earth elements in Avalon's Thor Lake deposit, located on Great Slave Lake between Yellowknife and Lutsel K'e, could fuel the Northern economy for generations, he said.

Dave Nickerson, a director with Canadian Zinc Corporation, and Robin Goad, president and CEO of Fortune Minerals, both predicted a diversity of minerals, including bismuth and historically produced base metals, will fuel the mining industry.

Nickerson also said that while the NWT has great geology and a reasonable tax regime, in order for the mining industry to really prosper, a better regulatory system and better transportation infrastructure are needed.

Without a 1,200 kilometre pipeline up the Mackenzie Valley connecting Inuvik to Alberta, natural gas will definitely not be the next big thing in the North - that was message from government and industry at Prospects North Thursday during a panel discussion on oil and gas.

"Future exploration of natural gas and the development of that gas is dependent on the pipeline being developed," said Randy Ottenbreit, operator of the Mackenzie Gas Project for Imperial Oil, a partner in the project along with the Aboriginal Pipeline Group, Shell, ConocoPhillips, and ExxonMobil.

Ottenbreit reported that the pipeline hearings, originally expected to last six months, will wrap up at the end of November - almost a year-and-a-half later than expected - and project costs havemore than doubled to $16 billion.

"The present project is economically unattractive. We need to improve it," said Western Arctic MP and federal NDP energy critic Dennis Bevington.

Bevington discussed the need for a national energy plan, a strategy for reducing the cumulative impacts of the pipeline, a review of the royalty regime, and government equity participation.

He also said there's great potential in the North, but not enough proven resources.

"This is an area where work has to happen. I'm happy to see new companies coming in," he said.

MGM Energy has drilled 11 wells in the Sahtu since 2000, and has budgeted $100 million in expenditures in the North in 2008.

"The pipeline economics are such that someone else had to come in and find more gas, and we've been optimistically successful to date," said Gary Bunio, vice-president of MGM Energy Corp.

"We will have gas ready for shipping at the pipeline start-up."