Mining & Nunavut Politics. 101....... After spending $2.1 billion on building an airstrip, fuel tanks,
a road system, mine site and all ther other related infracture
for Nunavut's Hope Bay Gold mine; Newmount Mining Crop
called KIA's bluff and decided to pull up stakes. This KIA
(Kitikmeot is different from the KIA in the Kivalliq) but both are
Inuit Assco. but representing different regions of Nunavut, Any-
way the mine was all set to start up production by 2014-15. New
mount was unable to hammer out an agreement with KIA on Inuit
Land use and an impact and benifits package. The word is that
KIA was demanding way too much even before the mine was act-
ually in production. In the end Newmount was unable to develop a
"positve pre-feasibility study or business case for moving ahead..
This is the 4th company that has tried to make this property a prod-
ucing mine. The one previous to Newmount was BHP Billiton. Since
2 of the top miners in the world were unable to get the project off the
ground; then it will just sit there until KIA comes to their senses with
their demands. In the meantime The Nunvut G'ovt is presently scurr-
ing around trying to figure out what went wrong.
In the mean time the barge containing the bunkhouses is frozen in
and it may be tugged to Baffinland's Iron Ore Project in the summer.