Natural Resources Canada’s latest survey of mineral exploration companies, released March 13, forecasts continued slow investment in all three northern territories of Canada and a modest jump in British Columbia.
The semi‐annual report, “Exploration and Deposit Appraisal Expenditures, by Province and Territory” provides companies’ intentions to spend the following in 2014:
• C$71.5 million in the NWT, a decrease of C$18.5 million (21 percent) from 2013;
• C$166.5 million in Nunavut, a decrease of C$103.7 million (38 percent) from 2013; and
• C$97.7 million in Yukon, an increase of C$7.8 million (9 percent); and
• C$512 million in British Columbia, an increase of C$11.9 million (2.3 percent).
For Canada, total spending intentions for 2014 have decreased to C$2.15 billion, down C$165.2 million (14 percent) from 2013. As a share of this projected Canadian investment, British Columbia ranked second; Nunavut placed fifth; while Yukon took sixth place; and the NWT ranked eighth.
Commenting on the survey results, Brooke Clements, president of the NWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines said, “These continue to be challenging times in the global market place for the exploration and mining industry, and we are seeing even lower spending intentions than NRCan projected last fall.
“However, we are hopeful that the market is slowly turning around, and that we will see increased spending later this year. In the NWT and Nunavut, we continue to have projects advancing through the regulatory process, and several have begun early-stage site development work. In addition, the federal and territorial governments are taking steps to attract investment through regulatory improvements, infrastructure planning, geoscience investment, training development, active marketing, and tax incentives,” Clements added.
