Avalon visits Hay River

K'atlodeeche/Hay River

Representatives from Avalon Rare Metals - developers of the Thor Lake rare earth elements deposit southeast of Yellowknife - met with business and government representatives in Hay River a week and a half ago to discuss the possibility of locating the mine's process plant in the Hub.

Avalon president Don Bubar and vice-president of exploration Bill Mercer met with Mayor Jean-Marc Miltenberger, the Hay River Chamber of Commerce, the K'atlodeeche First Nation as well as several local businesses, including Midnight Petroleum and NTCL.

Yellowknife is also being considered, but no such meeting has been scheduled yet with industry leaders and government in Yellowknife, said Avalon spokesperson David Connelly.

NWT joins economic forum

NWT

Premier Floyd Roland and ITI Minister Bob McLeod were accepted as the newest members of the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region (PNWER) Wednesday by Senator Lesil McGuire of Alaska, president of PNWER.

PNWER is a U.S.-Canada forum with members from Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and the Yukon who meet annually to discuss global economic opportunities and the preservation of the environment.

"It makes sense that the Northwest Territories be part of this group when we talk about the effects of climate change, when we talk about advances in economic development," said Roland. "We (Alaska and the NWT) both share in advancing our pipelines and needing to work together to do that work."