Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

HAY RIVER
Hay River could see up to 150 spin-off jobs from a proposed mining and processing project.

Avalon Rare Metals Inc. is proposing a mine and processing plant on the shores of Great Slave Lake.

The Nechalacho project would include a rare earth elements mine at Thor Lake on the north side of the lake and a hydrometallurgical plant at Pine Point.

For now, the project is waiting on an environmental review process before development and construction can go ahead to mine rare earth elements from lanthanum to lutetium.

The ore will be barged to Pine Point for initial processing before being trucked to Hay River to be moved south by rail.

Hay River Mayor Andrew Cassidy and the town's economic co-ordinator Jordan Stackhouse attended a Feb. 22 public hearing in Fort Resolution of the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board in order to throw support behind the project.

The town has been working in consultation with Avalon Rare Metals for the past two years. In those years, Cassidy said the company has been forthcoming with information about the project.

Stackhouse said he can see up to 150 jobs in the Hay River area, from transporting materials on NTCL barges to shipping on CN rail.

Avalon Rare Metals CEO Don Bubar said the project will bring 300 jobs at the two sites. The project could help power generation networks by creating electricity for other infrastructures throughout the NWT, he said.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.