NRCan forecasts 54% Decrease in NWT Exploration Expenditures in 2015

9 March 2015

(Yellowknife, NT – March 9, 2015) Federal government projections for 2015 mineral exploration and deposit appraisal spending are ‘up’ in Nunavut and Yukon and significantly diminished for the Northwest Territories. Natural Resources Canada’s (NRCan) latest semi-annual report Exploration and Deposit Appraisal Expenditures, by Province and Territory provides the following expenditure projections
for 2015:

  • $43.6 million in the NWT, a decrease of $52.2 million (54%) from updated 2014 estimates of $95.8 million;
  • $174.3 million in Nunavut, an increase of $29.7 million (21%) from $144.6 million in 2014; and
  • $126.4 million in Yukon, an increase of $19.3 million (18%) from $107.1 million in 2014.

The majority of spending in the NWT in 2015 is expected to be for diamonds and in in Nunavut on precious metals. Junior companies in the NWT are projected to spend 70% of the total in 2015, while in Nunavut the juniors are expected to spend 42% of the total on exploration with senior companies spending the majority. In the NWT, 71% of the spending is projected to be on grassroots exploration, the remainder on deposit appraisal. In Nunavut, 42% of the spending is projected to be on grassroots exploration, with the majority on deposit appraisal. 

As a share of projected Canadian investment, Nunavut remains in fifth place, the Yukon rises to sixth place, and the NWT drops to eighth place.

NRCan projects that total Canadian exploration and deposit appraisal expenditures for 2015 will be $1,867.3 million, a decrease of 3% from their preliminary estimates of $1,933.7 million for 2014.  

Charts for northern Canada’s historical and projected performance are attached as a Backgrounder to this release. NRCan’s data can be downloaded by clicking here.