Northern Mining Industry Welcomes Political Party Commitments

2 September 2015

Northern Mining Industry Welcomes Political Party Commitments

(Yellowknife, NT – September 2, 2015)  The Northern minerals industry challenges all political parties to make commitments to help level the playing field and make exploration and mining in northern and remote Canada more competitive. As outlined in a recent industry study, Levelling the Playing Field 2015, the mining and exploration industry must operate under conditions that add significant costs many times higher than in southern Canada.

In addition to identifying this cost premium, the study recommends a number of actions that government could take to help. These include:

  • Exploration incentives such as a Federal Mineral Exploration Tax Credit (METC) enhanced for projects in remote and northern parts of Canada at 25% versus the current 15%, and/or financial incentives to make the costs of drilling for early-stage exploration projects more economically feasible;
  • Mining incentives such as a 10% investment tax credit, AND either a 15% investment tax credit for eligible infrastructure, OR a pardonable 25% conditionally repayable contribution for infrastructure investments;
  • Direct investment in infrastructure by creating a northern infrastructure investment bank for mine-related infrastructure that generate public benefits, but do not meet the “public use” criterion of existing federal programs.

We are pleased to see the announcement today by Prime Minister Stephen Harper that his government, if re-elected, would support extending the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit (METC) from one to three years, and importantly for the North, would increase the METC from 15% to 25% for Northern and remote projects that are more than 50 kilometres from a transportation network.

We encourage all political parties to commit to appropriate actions to support Canada’s minerals industry and specifically to enhance mineral development in remote northern Canada.

Strengthening the northern minerals industry is critically important for the Northwest Territories and Nunavut where mining and its direct and indirect benefits through employment, business spending and tax payments contribute as much as 40% of the Gross Domestic Product, making it the largest private sector contributor to the territorial economies.

For more information on the NWT and Nunavut mining industries, please visit the website at www.miningnorth.com or contact Tom Hoefer, Executive Director at Tel: 867-873-5281 or email: executivedirector@miningnorth.com. 

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