Arctic Infrastructure Fund opens for proposals

The federal government has opened its new Arctic Infrastructure Fund to applicants.

The $1-billion fund, which aims to “advance strategic northern transportation projects,” was announced as part of the Liberal government’s budget late last year.

Transport minister Steven MacKinnon announced the launch of proposals for the fund on Wednesday.

Rebecca Alty, the NWT’s MP, told Cabin Radio the federal government is looking to fund “big, transformational projects that really unlock northern potential when it comes to the economy and to getting goods flowing internally in Canada as well as getting goods to the market.”

“We’re looking for impact, positive impact on communities, bringing communities together, obviously opening up economic possibilities whether that be mineral development or other things,” MacKinnon added, saying access to the Arctic Ocean is a priority.

To get projects done, McKinnon said the federal government plans to work with partners such as the Canadian Armed Forces, Canadian Infrastructure Bank and territorial and Indigenous governments.

“This money you can think of as a lever, as part of the solution to solve a number of …. very, very consequential issues, and I think it will go a long way to helping achieve those ambitious objectives,” he said.

Alty made similar comments when discussing the fund last year, highlighting the need for private investment to get major projects done. She also pointed to a $10-billion funding increase for the Canada Infrastructure Bank in the latest budget.

The Arctic Infrastructure Fund is open to northern communities, territorial and Indigenous governments and organizations, and industry for projects in the Yukon, NWT, Nunavut, Nunavik and Nunatsiavut.

To be eligible for funding, projects must:

• improve transportation links that enable economic development and access to domestic and global markets;
• strengthen defence readiness and Canada’s ability to operate in the Arctic;
• enhance community connectivity and acces to essential goods, services and emergency response; and
• advance Indigenous reconciliation.

Two streams of the fund are open.

One is invitation-based for large-scale projects that support defence and community requirements. The second is an open call for industry and community-led projects with dual-use benefits.

Also on Wednesday, the federal government opened a $5-billion Trade Diversification Corridors Fund that aims to “strengthen trade-enabling transportation infrastructure and help double non-US exports.”

“The beauty with these two funds is we’ll actually be looking for applications and you don’t have to pick one fund or the other,” Alty said.

Week of announcements

The announcements related to the federal funds came during a week packed with attempts by governments and industry to make headlines at PDAC, the major mining conference held in Toronto.

Other announcements with NWT connections made this week include:

The GNWT released an updated assessment of mineral potential across the eastern Northwest Territories. The territory said this provides “a modern, data-rich picture of the region’s mineral potential with a focus on critical minerals.”

The assessment “confirms that the Slave Geological Province remains one of Canada’s most abundant regions for mineral exploration and development,” the territorial government stated, “with broad potential for critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, copper, and zinc, alongside well-established potential for gold and diamonds.”

The Slave Geological Province would be opened up by the Arctic Corridor highway project if it goes ahead, as appears increasingly likely.

The GNWT also changed its Mining Incentive Program to remove a $500,000 lifetime cap on funding per corporate project, saying the time and resources needed to bring any project to fruition had evolved.

Ottawa announced $1.5 million for “Tłı̨chǫ-led mineral exploration.” The federal government said this is spread over three years and will “help identify new mining opportunities through aerial surveys, ground-based prospecting, and data analysis in the Tłı̨chǫ Region.”

“Our lands are open for exploration, and we are here to help investors and partners work with us to maximize value for Tłı̨chǫ citizens and protect our lands and culture,” Tłı̨chǫ Grand Chief Jackson Lafferty was quoted as saying.

The NWT and Canada agreed a memorandum of understanding on regulatory coordination. The two governments said the deal would “improve the clarity, predictability, and efficiency in impact assessment and regulatory processes.”

However, the memo did not go into detail about what the practical consequences might be for industry, communities and the environment. Some attendees at a signing ceremony convened at PDAC said they were left unsure of the document’s significance. (More reporting on this follows.)

In NWT mining news during PDAC week, lithium explorer Li-FT said it is looking at building its own processing plant in Alberta that would take lithium from a proposed mine northeast of Yellowknife.

Avalon Advanced Materials, which owns the deeper subsurface rights at the Nechalacho rare earths property (Vital Metals has near-surface rights), said it will reopen a Yellowknife office.

The company said it will use recently raised funds to do so and has brought back its former chief operating officer to “advance updated feasibility work” at Nechalacho.

The City of Yellowknife made an appearance as a presenter at PDAC, discussing responsible resource development and sharing findings from its recent modern gold mining workshops.

Those workshops “aimed to increase community understanding, hear concerns, and foster trust-based dialogue about potential future gold mining in the area,” the city stated.

Trust has been harder to come by in the city since one of its largest gold mines, Giant Mine, turned into a $4-billion toxic liability that is now the subject of a federally led, decades-long remediation project.

Ollie Williams contributed reporting.