Territorial mines group opens Iqaluit office

The Northwest Territories and Nunavut Chamber of Mines plans to open an office in Iqaluit, the group announced April 5 at the Nunavut Mining Symposium in Iqaluit.

“It is time to establish an industry office in Iqaluit,” said Pamela Strand, the chamber’s vice-president for Nunavut and president of Shear Diamonds Ltd.

Strand also introduced the Nunavut office’s first general manager, Elizabeth Kingston.

Kingston will “inform Nunavummiut about the mining industry, work with our member companies, and monitor and support regulatory changes that maintain Nunavut as an attractive investment climate for mineral development,” Shear said.

Through the money Agnico-Eagle’s Meadowbank gold mine pours into training, jobs, local businesses, government and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., Meadowbank creates nearly a third of Nunavut’s gross domestic product, Strand said.

“Nunavummiut need and deserve the significant opportunities that mining and exploration can bring. The territory is experiencing Canada’s only baby boom and population growth is the largest in the country. This is adding to already high unemployment in the communities. A healthy and growing industry can make a difference,” Strand said.

Strand also thanked the chamber’s members, who agreed to pay more in membership fees to pay for an office in Iqaluit.

The Government of Nunavut has also been “very supportive” to the establishment of a Nunavut Chamber of Mines office, she said, because it recognizes “the value of a strong minerals industry to Nunavut.”

The mining organization‘s other office is in Yellowknife.