HOPE BAY
Mineral exploration and development company TMAC Resources has signed a 20-year land tenure agreement with the Kitikmeot Inuit Association (KIA), and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc (NTI), for the Hope Bay Belt, paving the way for the company's development of the area.

The power station at TMAC's Hope Bay/Doris North gold project. The company recently signed a 20-year land and benefit agreement that executive chairman Terry MacGibbon said encourages development along the entire property. - photo courtesy TMAC Resources

Executive chair Terry MacGibbon called the agreement "outstanding", telling Nunavut News/North it was fundamental to the project's advancement and progress. "I think it's a very fair and long-term arrangement between the Inuit and TMAC shareholders that'll hopefully live long and (be) prosperous for us all."

For TMAC, the agreement signified the company was allowed and encouraged to develop the entire property.

"It's going to be a lot more than exploration," MacGibbon said. "We, in the deposits that we have, explored them enough to define them as deposits worthy of production."

MacGibbon described the property as a greenstone, gold-rich belt with a very high probability of several mines, especially with the previously noted Doris, Madrid and Boston deposits. "We expect that over time with exploration we'll find more," he said.

The company is about to conclude a pre-feasibility study (PFS) after finishing a preliminary economic assessment.

"All indications up till now are that we will have a very viable project to put into production," MacGibbon said.

The TMAC executive said financing the project is the third major step. While the private company has already raised approximately $175 million in the last two years for investment in Hope Bay and is looking into a variety of financing methods going forward, MacGibbon is trying to be cautious about his optimism.

"Until you put money in the bank you never, never know," he said, acknowledging that financing markets are the "toughest in decades."

However, MacGibbon said his company's flexible approach to financing means they are seriously looking at a mix of fundraising and a change in overall status.

"I think our maturity in the development of the company is leading us to that," he said, citing the need for access to capital markets and ensuring liquidity to shareholders. "We're very optimistic the PFS will be robust enough to allow us to finance the project and to be able to go public."

Finally, MacGibbon said it was important to mention that while members of the Inuit community are already working on site at the project, one of the new things in the agreement was that beneficiaries of KIA were now also shareholders of the company as well as recipients of a net smelter return royalty. MacGibbon said the project's economic benefits wouldn't stop there. "A primary objective of ours is to employ as many folks from Nunavut as possible."

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