Are more hydro dams and transmission lines to power mining projects in the future for the Northwest Territories and the Yukon?
In the NWT, London, Ont.-based Fortune Minerals Ltd. needs power for their proposed NICO gold-cobalt-copper mine, located about 160 kilometres from Yellowknife. Construction on the mine is scheduled to begin in 2014. Toronto-based Avalon Rare Minerals Inc. says cheaper power would change the rate of return on their proposed $1.6 billion Nechalacho Rare Earth Elements mine in Thor Lake. This mine would include a tailings management facility and barge docking facilities on Great Slave Lake.
NWT officials are asking the Harper government to increase their borrowing limit so that new power facilities – notably a hydro generator and transmission lines – can be built. The Yukon is seeking federal funding for a new $100-million dam (the site has not been chosen yet).
Companies say that more power would make more resource extraction projects viable.
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