Hope Bay Permitting Doris North Gold Mine (now part of the Hope Bay Gold Project, recently written off by Newmont) submitted a project description to the Nunavut Impact Review Board on March 1st, 2002. After a long process the Project Certificate allowing construction to begin was issued on September 15th, 2006. That's 4.5 years of environmental permitting!
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When Newmont killed the Hope Bay Gold Project, writing off $2.1 billion in costs, blame was specifically placed on the difficulty and delays involved with doing business in Nunavut:
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"But Newmont couldn’t reach an expected agreement with the KIA on Inuit land use tenure and an Inuit impact and benefits agreement for the second phase of its expansion.
KIA president Charlie Evalik says money was not a sticking point, but, according to a person who was not authorized to speak publicly and who spoke on condition of anonymity, the KIA may have asked for too much before the mine had even reached production."
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Don't believe the liars on this board. The facts are that the Nunavut environmental permitting process is very long and can kill even promising projects run by majors.