[Shadow_Group] enemy propaganda

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Diamonds, gold, oil and gas driving frontier economy / Natural gas 
reserves estimated to be worth US$406 quadrillion

http://www.nnsl.com/Opps04/index.html<http://www.nnsl.com/Opps04/index.html>

To get a good idea of how fast opportunity springs up in the North, 
consider this:

Seven years ago, Canada had no diamond mines. Who had heard the name 
Ekati and Diavik? Now Canada, with these two mines in the NWT near the 
Nunavut border, is the third largest diamond producer in the world.



Mining is a big business in more ways than one. Here a Diavik worker is 
dwarfed by one of the company's eight Komatsu 830E haul trucks. - 
Elizabeth Hargreaves/NNSL photo



If politics allow and natural gas prices stay high, the Mackenzie Valley 
pipeline will take $4 billion to build. It's estimated there are 65 
trillion cubic feet of gas from the Liard Valley to the Beaufort Delta. 
At a price of about US$6/mmbtu, that puts the value at more than US$406 
quadrillion.

In Nunavut, by the western shore of Hudson Bay, a region called 
Kivalliq, the Meadowbank project sits with three million ounces of gold 
reserves to be mined. It isn't alone as more gold deposits dot the two 
territories. A promising one at Hope Bay, in the Kitikmeot, is estimated 
to hold over five million ounces.

NWT Premier Joe Handley who has been trying to sell the idea for the 
last two years: Hydro power from run of river type dams on Great Bear 
River and Mackenzie River can produce 3,300 megawatts of power for 
export to the south.

The above world class opportunities create countless other 
opportunities. The exploration industry grows larger with each 
profitable mine or oil and gas find. Construction, ground and air 
transportation, manufacturing and service industries all enjoy new business.

The people

These rich economic opportunities are creating equally valuable 
political opportunities for more than 60,000 Northerners, half of whom 
are the Inuit, Dene, Inuvialuit and Metis.

Aboriginal governments, the largest of which operates in Nunavut through 
Nunavut Tunngavik, have a powerful role to play in developing the 
resources on the vast lands to which they have legal title. The 
Inuvialuit in the Beaufort Delta are past the strictly political stage. 
The Inuvialuit Development Corporation has large holdings in oil, real 
estate and business service companies.

In contrast, the Deh Cho, at the southern end of the proposed Mackenzie 
Valley pipeline, is wrestling with political development. At the same 
time, Deh Cho leaders are trying to prepare for maximizing value from 
the gas flowing both out of and over their land. With the federal and 
territorial governments involved, it's a confusing and taxing process in 
every sense.

BHP Billiton, owner of the Ekati Diamond mine and Rio Tinto/Aber, owners 
of the Diavik mine, have managed to navigate the politics and get two 
mines built. When the profits are there, anything can be accomplished.

Diverse economy, career opportunities

Before oil and gas, diamonds and gold, there was the harvesting of 
caribou, fish, muskox and fur, industries which still exist and in some 
cases are expanding.

Caribou, muskox and char from across the North are harvested, processed 
and shipped as delicacies to Europe and across North America. There are 
profitable processing plants in Cambridge Bay, Rankin Inlet and Panniqtuuq.

Commercial muskox is an emerging industry thanks to research spearheaded 
by the Inuvialuit in the Western Arctic. Muskox meat has a beeflike 
taste and texture. Scarves, mittens and sweaters are produced from the 
muskox's under-hair known as qiviut.

Fishing in NWT, mainly the Great Slave Lake freshwater fishery, has a 
solid resource of whitefish and trout, but is struggling against soft 
prices, high costs and lack of capital.

Nunavut is expanding its shrimp and turbot fishery, with char being a 
steady fishery in all regions. The future should see Inuit-owned 
trawlers, increased processing operations and expanding international 
markets.

Compared to the other two thirds of Canada, the North lacks 
infrastructure. The highway system services only half the NWT while the 
Mackenzie River, as it has for centuries, is a main supply route. 
Nunavut relies on the ocean shipping for its annual resupply and air 
transport does the rest.

Money for more roads and strategically placed sea ports must come from 
the federal government. The two territorial governments are also 
attempting to change the financial deal they have with the federal 
government.

Right now, all royalties from Northern resource development go to 
Ottawa, regardless of what it costs the Northern governments to manage 
that development.

With the unparalleled opportunities coming and the skyrocketing world 
demand for greater natural resources, Canada's North is ensured a higher 
profile in the national economy.
-- 

Macdonald Stainsby
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green<http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green>
In the contradiction lies the hope
--Bertholt Brecht.
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