NUNAVUT
The latest mineral exploration numbers from Natural Resources Canada point to 2014 as having been another comparatively slow year for spending in the territory.

An aerial view of the Goose camp on Sabina Gold's Back River property. Sabina was a big spender last year in Nunavut, but overall, spending on exploration is down in Nunavut over last year according to the most recent statistics from Natural Resources Canada. - photo courtesy Sabina Gold and Silver Corp.

According to the most recent estimates (based on September projections), spending in Nunavut will be down 43 per cent over last year to $148.1 million.

Assuming the projection holds when the final numbers are released early this spring, 2014 will have been the weakest year for exploration spending since 2005.

The slowdown in spending shows up in statistics collected and published by the Iqaluit Canada-Nunavut Geoscience Office in the recently published 2014 Nunavut Mineral Exploration, Mining and Geoscience Overview.

Produced by the GN, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada and the Canada-Nunavut Geoscience Office, and written by staffers in Iqaluit, the document is a thorough description of mining and mineral exploration activity in Nunavut.

Last year the geoscience office issued 13 new prospecting permits -- bringing the total number of Nunavut prospecting permits to 110 -- and recorded 167 new mineral claims (as of Nov. 1.) The department conducted 295 field inspections of activity surrounding exploration camps, mines and research facilities.

But overall, permitting, claims and land leases are down. Mineral exploration and tenure permits in Nunavut stood at 110 in 2014, down from 196 the year before.

Mineral claims were down as well in 2014 to 4,278 from 5,562 in 2013. Leases dropped to 492 last year, down from 701 in 2013.

AANDC spokesperson Valerie Hache said the decline in permits does not necessarily mean less investment in Nunavut.

"A drop in the number of permits, claims and leases is not necessarily an indicator of less activity," Hache said.

"It can indicate a maturing of the exploration and development investment in the territory as projects move from prospecting and wide-scale exploration to narrowing their focus on specific deposits. Often, more investment dollars are spent on a smaller site than on a large holding."

Even annual exploration numbers should be understood in terms of overall averages instead of on a year-over-year basis.

"The average exploration and deposit appraisal expenditure in Nunavut over the past 15 years is $220 million per year," Hache said.

"Actual expenditures in 2013 were $249 million and $148 million for 2014. The past couple of years have been at a relatively normal level of spending at an average of about $198 million for the last two years."

The Canada-Nunavut Geoscience Office is funded through a $1.4 million cost-sharing agreement between the Natural Resources Canada, the GN, and AANDC. According to information provided by the federal government, AANDC contributes $430,000, Natural Resources Canada puts in $526,000, and the GN contributes a further $450,000.

In addition that that regular funding, Aboriginal Affairs put $44,500 toward upgrading web-based data delivery and exploration targeting through high resolution satellite data.

The Nunavut Geoscience Office maintains a database of exploration results from across the territory. After a period of confidentiality, the data is made public on the NUMIN database, where more than 3,600 reports are available.

Fifty-nine new reports were added last year, representing more than $30 million in exploration and assessment spending.

Exploration work done on Inuit-owned land that includes subsurface rights is reported directly to NTI, who also releases the information publicly after a cooling off period on nunavutgeoscience.ca.