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Ocean links planned from Canada’s Arctic
Gary Park
The first serious move to build a port in the Canadian Arctic is coming from Wolfden Resources, a company with five mining properties in Nunavut.
While governments have long pondered establishing a deep-sea port on the Arctic coast, Wolfden is ready to invest C$135 million on a port at Grays Bay in Western Nunavut and an associated road.
The location is preferred over a Bathurst Inlet site that has been the subject of several studies and has been waiting for federal funding since a 2001 study. Primary objective mining The primary objective for the company is to service its mining properties — which will be increased if it completes the purchase of the closed Lupin gold mine from Kinross Gold — but Chief Operating Officer John Begeman told the Edmonton Journal that a port and year-round road could also be made available to other companies and communities.
He said ocean access would reduce the high cost of living in remote northern regions, which rely on air service and barges for basic supplies and could help unlock Nunavut’s vast resource potential.
Begeman said that based on regulatory approvals, Wolfden hopes to start construction of one base metals mine in 2008 and move to production in 2010.
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