Grays Bay road and port could be open by 2035: Proponent
First proposed in 2016, project has ‘greater chance of success’ than before, says CEO of West Kitikmeot Resources Corp.
The proposed Grays Bay 230-kilometre all-season road and deepsea port that would link western Nunavut to the rest of Canada might be operational by 2035, says Brendan Bell, CEO of West Kitikmeot Resources Corp.
That’s the goal he said his company has set for the project, which he described as a “subway line” that would make infrastructure around it more valuable.
Grays Bay was first proposed by the Kitikmeot Inuit Association and the Government of Nunavut in 2016 as a $550-million “nation-building” initiative that would provide easy access to resource-rich areas of Nunavut.
The road would run from the site of the former Jericho diamond mine, which sits at the northern end of the Tibbit-Contwoyto winter road, to a deepsea port at Grays Bay on Coronation Gulf, approximately 200 kilometres east of Kugluktuk.
Since 2016, the estimated price tag for the project has nearly doubled to close to $1 billion due to inflation, Bell said.
West Kitikmeot Resources Corp., which is owned by Kitikmeot Inuit Association, became the proponent of Grays Bay last year after the Kitikmeot Inuit Association pulled out of the project in January 2023. The GN pulled its stake out of the project in 2018.
After completion, maintenance and operations of the Grays Bay road and port will be overseen by West Kitikmeot Resources Corp.
With newfound national and international interest in the Arctic and its critical resources, the project is more economically and politically promising and has “a greater chance of success today than it had five years ago,” Bell said.
Previously, the project would “hang together” on mining exploration alone, while now the question of Arctic sovereignty and defence makes the whole initiative more viable, he said.
In 2018, it was estimated Grays Bay would raise Nunavut’s gross domestic product by a total of $5.1 billion, and Canada’s by $7.6 billion, over 15 years.
West Kitikmeot Resources Corp. has yet to update those calculations, Bell said.
The company is now working to secure funding for construction.
Bell said he aims for 75 per cent of the cost to be carried by the federal government and the remaining 25 by the Government of Nunavut. In case the GN does not provide financial help, the corporation will look for private investors.
Grays Bay project has $21.6 million in federal funding and around $8 million in private funding to make the project “shovel-ready” by around 2030, Bell said.
That work includes engineering concepts, environmental assessments and making a “business case” for construction.
“We certainly won’t know that the cheque is in the mail until we’ve completed those phases,” Bell said.
GN do not commit until we have a chance to vote for candidates who will promise to use our hard earned tax dollars for a road to nothing. Each mining company has paid for their own roads here and elsewhere to make money. If you are going to start paying for these we want our say.
You are right that the GN should not be paying for this, at least not 25%, but it’s definitely not a road to nowhere. This isn’t like Meadowbank or Mary River, if you can’t see that I you may be beyond help. Sealift into the Kitikmeot is pretty limited, they need more options. Montreal is faaarrr and Mackenzie River is unreliable.
West Kitikmeot Resources Corp should publish the compensation of their Board of Directors.
Yes, they should. Also how much they pay their consultants.
The Road to Nowhere, all the mines are going to be done by the time this project see’s light,
Kugluktuk will need a ferry service to Grays Bay to serve the population of the refion who want to use the road like the rest of canadians do,heck lets auction plots off the highway and connect to the rest of the continent ! Road stops with fresh doughnuts soon ! Coming to the Kitikmeot soon .
The Tuk highway cost about $2.5M / km to construct in 2017. The road was built between two already established settlements from an existing highway. The Gray’s Bay alignment will be significantly more challenging and costly to construct and maintain. Maintenance of the Tuk highway is already problematic, go ahead, google it. The price tag will be much, much higher than $1B. plus that does not include the construction of the NWT road needed to link the southern terminus of the Gray’s Bay road with an existing highway.
What strategic advantage can the proposed road or port actually produce? Do you really think the navy will use Gray’s Bay as a refueling station? Expanding military presence at an existing settlement such as Cambridge Bay would make much more sense, if it were even necessary, to wave the flag.
This proposed road does not link to any Nunavut community. It is meant to connect the High Lake and Ulu mineral deposits to a deep water port. These mineral exploration sites are owned by MMG. MMG’s major shareholder is China Minmetals Corporation (CMC). CMC is one of China’s major multinational state-owned enterprises. If Brendan Bell is looking for government funding for this project perhaps he should be asking the Government of China.
Kia involved means it won’t happen where’s our solar power plant in Kugluktuk? Too busy renovating old moldy buildings to help out bankrupt contractors that drive big 200k trucks around town but claim to be going out of business.
Some of these contractors are constantly near bankruptcy, and for sale. But the sale only includes the run down buildings and rusty equipment, not the juicy contracts. You always know when the CRA bill is coming due because the non essential equipment goes up for sale on Facebook. Not sure how these companies can struggle so badly when they operate in near monopoly conditions in the smaller towns and charge $200 an hour for labour. I get it that the market is small and the cost of doing business is higher in Nunavut, but mismanagement plays a big role. The minute a big new contract is signed the shopping starts for new expensive equipment.
Don’t forget the ask no questions, just gotta believe in “climate change” and “C02 bad”. Just be happy those 2 repeating mind lulling phrases are mass people control restrictors and everything more expensive makers.
Then, if all fossil-fueled powered cars/trucks are to be banned from roads and not sold by 2035. Because the Government of Canada states all cars/trucks must be electric powered by 2035 across Canada.
What is the cost and how many electric vehicle charge stations scattered along the road will this road require? Is this part of the estimated or additional cost? The non-diesel electric generating station will be where? The power line cost to the electric vehicle charge stations will cost how much?
Let’s say a costly wild card of a rare exemption given to allow fossil-fueled cars and trucks to drive the road. How much for fossil-fueled vehicle insurance, the permit fee to own the fossil-fueled car/truck, and the permit fee to drive on the road?
A side note. How much will hunting shrink if people cannot use gas machines because there are no gas powered machines made to purchase? But then, isn’t meat to be banned by 2030 to save the planet from climate change?
Why no stand-up, push back hard chatter from any of the Orgs? Against moving arctic and its residents backwards in time?
Generally, the comments are more educational and entertaining than the article, but this one is educational and entertaining:
“… Kitikmeot Inuit Association, became the proponent of Grays Bay last year after the Kitikmeot Inuit Association pulled out of the project in January 2023.”