Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16
Page 17
Page 18
Page 19
Page 20
Wednesday February 3 2016 3 POLITICS MINING FIDDLE WORKSHOP February 19 20 21 2016 Come to Fort Smith for a Friday Evening Jam Fiddle Classes on Saturday Sunday Orchestra Classes as well as other Instruments REGISTRATION FEE 80 for full Workshop or 40 for 1 day paid by February 12 90 for full workshop or 45 for 1 day after February 12 Private lessons may be arranged for 100Student 7 to 9 PM Friday evening for Registration Home Room Classes 9 AM to 8 PM Saturday 9 AM to 3 PM Sunday with two-hour lunch breaks Located at JBT Elementary School Fort Smith Free Old Time Community Fiddle Dance Concert 200 to 300 PM Sunday Beginners are welcome No need to be able to play an instrument Minimum age is 8 years old to 90 years young FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT Bart Hartop ...........867 872-2154 .....gail_barthartophotmail.com Linda Duford .........867-876-0656..........................ljtd58yahoo.ca Tune-Ups Brakes Auto Transmissions General Auto Repair 24 Hour Towing Auto Truck Sales Out of Province Inspections Commercial Vehicle Inspections 9600 120 Ave. High Level AB Phone 780 926-2343 Toll-Free 877 550-2343 www.recoveryauto.com AUTOMOTIVE LTD By CRAIG GILBERT Premier Bob McLeod had a full dance card in Vancouver last week as he spent two days meeting with mining sector companies at an annual conference. Mineral Exploration Roundup 2016 at- tracted nearly 7000 delegates to Canada Place Jan. 25-28 including the NWT premier Fi- nance Minister Robert C. McLeod and Health Minister Glen Abernethy. McLeod met with several companies most already operating or exploring in the Northwest Territories and hosted an NWT Night reception attended by about 300 people. The message I was giving to industry is we have a new government in the NWT with a fresh mandate to find investment for infrastructure growth training and educa- tion and also that sustaining and grow- ing our mining sector will help us move forward with our priorities he said in a conference call with reporters Jan. 26. We now have devolution we have localized re- source control a proven ability to nurture and support major projects and we also have some of the largest proven mineral reserves in Canada virtually untapped. I also gave the strong message that we need the federal government to partner with us especially to invest in strategic infrastruc- ture projects that will help to unlock our economic potential. The conference brought together geosci- entists prospectors investors suppliers and First Nation partners to share ideas that will help shape the future of mineral exploration and development according to the events website which implies the challenges facing the mining industry in the NWT are pres- ent elsewhere. Mineral deposits are becoming harder to find we must now travel to more remote locations search deeper beneath cover and sometimes settle for lower grades. These aspects coupled with the challeng- ing market conditions remind us that we must be more creative and collaborative as we explore to discover and develop new mineral deposits. McLeod said an important aspect of his approach to the mineral sector is support- ing businesses that are already here. After attending the CEOs breakfast at the con- ferences outset on Monday he held meet- ings with Dominion Diamonds the NWT Mineral Industry Advisory Board Mountain Province Kennady Diamonds Crossworks Manufacturing Canadian Zinc Devonian Metals Avalon Rare Earth Metals Fortune Minerals and MMG. Premier bangs the drum at Vancouver mining summit He also had a meeting with B.C. Premier Christy Clark a lunch with three Yukon cabi- net ministers who collectively hold the port- folios for energy mines roads Scott Kent the environment Wade Itschenko and eco- nomic development Stacey Hassard and co-hosted an open house with the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines. The chamber board was impressed with the fact McLeod made himself minister of mines by retaining the Industry Tourism and Investment portfolio according to ex- ecutive director Tom Hoefer. This was the rst time our members were able to meet and discuss with our new Min- ister for Mines what could be done to im- prove exploration and mining in the NWT and I can say we were very pleased with the PremierMinisters understanding of our in- dustry Hoefer wrote in an email. We left believing that Minister McLeod is in a great position to help. McLeod continued the mining junket with talks with Selwyn Chihong Mining which has applied to expand a 79-kilometre min- ing road that loops through the Sahtu and Dehcho en route to the Yukon highway net- work and De Beers Canada. They discussed the status of Snap Lake where mining operations ceased before Christmas and Gacho Kue which when it starts producing this coming fall will be the worlds largest new diamond mine. Certainly we welcome that theyll start production this year it will be a welcome addition especially since Snap Lake dia- mond mine is now in care and mainte- nance he said. We feel we would need more new projects to start but we think it is important for us to maintain what we have. The mining sector in particular provides a very real means for raising the revenues necessary to bring the citizens of the NWT the changes they have tasked us with providing in our newly elected 18th Assembly. McLeod said he was there in part to ex- press concern that the commodities mar- ket is in a very significant downturn not expected to reverse itself for 18 to 24 months but also ended up talking about the GNWTs unique dynamic with its Ab- original governments. We also had very signicant Aboriginal representation at the conference he said. There was very signicant interest in the media about our working relationship and collaboration with Aboriginal governments on matters related to lands and resource management. We also gave the message that we are the only government in Canada com- mitted to ensuring Aboriginal governments share in the benets of economic develop- ment both by sharing royalties and by di- rect employment and contracting and that our intergovernmental council is a key and innovative feature of our devolution agree- ment with Canada. Professional gold panner Yukon Dan Moore was at the Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia Round-Ups Discovery Day in Vancouver on Jan. 24. PhotocourtesyofAMEBC