Newmont March 5-11 Northern Miner has an article on Newmont's pullout from Hope Bay. Mentions stuff like high cost due to the remoteness and hostile climate, disappointing exploration results. The is only one sentence that seems to relate to anything that may touch on the political sphere- a comment about that one contributor to high cost may be high prices charged by Kitikmeot on contracts. I'm not sure what contracts, I figured maybe contracts to deliver fuel & supplies to the site or something.
Anyway, from this and other articles I get the impression that the main causes for Newmont to pull out relate to the standard cost/benefit considerations for a company considering building a mine. Of course, since remote location and hostile climate also apply in the case of Back River, it is rational for investors to have gotten more cautious on Sabina in the wake of Newmont's decision.
I guess the optimistiv view would be that between Hackett and Back River there might be quite a bit more economy of scale then you would have at Hope Bay which might mitigate the costs.