Mining exploration slows down in Nunavik

Delegates listen to a presentation at the Nunavik mining symposium in Kuujjuaq hosted in April. (PHOTO COURTESY OF MAKIVIK)

INUKJUAK — This summer promises to be a quiet one for the mining industry in Nunavik, with low metal prices keeping exploration at bay.

Jean-Marc Séguin, Makivik Corp.’s mining coordinator, told Kativik Regional Government council meetings last week that 2014 saw hardly any mining activity in the region — a reflection of a global market in decline.

“Activities in Nunavik are impacted by what’s happening around the world,” said Séguin. “Exploration companies can’t raise money to develop their projects.”

“In Nunavik, there’s an additional constraint to get access,” he added. “Companies have to fly in their material, so [there is] a higher cost of operation and a shorter window of time to perform their field work.

Nunavik is currently home to about a dozen advanced exploration projects — iron, nickel and rare earths projects that stretch from the Schefferville area and north along Ungava Bay to Quaqtaq, and west across what’s known as Nunavik’s nickel belt.

That’s where the region’s only two operating mines are located — Glencore Raglan and Canadian Royalties’ Nunavik Nickel, but even those projects have taken a hit, Séguin told regional councillors May 28.

“Locally, that has an impact on royalty sharing with Glencore and Canadian Royalties,” he said, referring to the benefits that flow from the mines to local communities each year.

In 2014, Quebec saw a 36 per cent decline in mining investment.

The price of iron is expected to drop nine per cent in 2015 and 14 per cent in 2016, Séguin said. This has had a major impact on projects like Oceanic Iron Ore Corp.’s Hopes Advance iron project near Aupaluk.

That may be just as well for people in that community, who a recent survey revealed do not support the project.

“There’s a lot of negative impact expected, and the majority don’t want mining activity close to the community,” Séguin said.

Last November, Makivik published the Nunavik Inuit Mining Policy, which sets out conditions for resource development across the region, with Makivik as a first point of contact.

The policy aims to maximize social and economic benefits for Nunavik Inuit while minimizing negative environmental benefits.

Around the same time, Nunavik’s leadership came out against the development of uranium in region.

Both policies have been well-received in Quebec, Séguin said.

But Nunavik’s gross domestic product, or GDP, has risen rapidly over the last decade, thanks to the region’s small but growing mining industry.

The region’s GDP — which refers to the market value of all goods and services produced within a given period — has more than tripled over 10 years, from $291 million in 2003 to $887 million in 2012, according to a new preliminary report prepared by Laval university economists, although they acknowledge the overall impact on the region has been small.

One commodity that is seeing demand is rare earth elements, which are used in magnets, car brakes, iPhones and other tools — the consumption of which is expected to increase by 700 per cent over the next 25 years.

Nunavik has deposits, located south of Kuujjuaq and Kangiqsualujjuaq , the most advanced being Quest Rare Minerals’ Strange Lake project, which has said it could start operation as soon as 2019.

To track the region’s mining developments, the Nunavik Mineral Exploration Fund has two new Kuujjuaq-based staff, whose positions are funded through KRG, Makivik and the province.

The fund will also lead a soapstone survey in the region this summer.