Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, mining and exploration continued in the Northwest Territories. In 2021, NRCan’s projects exploration spending of $47.7 million, a 35% increase from $35.4 million the previous year. So far in 2021, 66 claims have been staked and 116 cancelled, along with 8 leases issued and 4 leases cancelled. No prospecting permits have been issued to date.
Mining operations continued at Ekati, Diavik and Gacho Kué mines. Vital Metals commenced production at the Nechalacho project, the first rare earths producer in Canada and the second in North America.
Gold Terra filed an updated NI 43-101 Technical Report on their Yellowknife City Gold project, with a 64% increase in the mineral resource estimate, as well as continued drilling on their Yellorex (Campbell Shear), Ranney Hill Shear and Crestaurum Shear targets. Nighthawk Gold Corp. completed a 272-drill-hole, 72,325 m drilling program on the Indin Lake Gold property. At Sixty North Gold’s Mon project, drilling and sampling was carried out along the extension of a decline with plans to extract a 4,000 to 6,000 tonne bulk sample. Rover Metals completed a 31-drill-holes and ground geophysics at their Cabin Gold property, and announced a new drilling program at their Uptown Gold project.
Work continued on the Pine Point project, a past-producing Pb-Zn mine, with Osisko Metals Incorporated submitting an Environmental Assessment Initiation Package while also implementing a 3,000 m winter and a 13,000 m summer/fall drilling programs. NorZinc continued to advance the Prairie Creek project with additional drilling and permitting work, the release of a Preliminary Economic Assessment for a 2,400 tonne per day operation along with an MOU for the sale of concentrate. Fortune Minerals Limited continued work on their NICO Cobalt-Gold-Bismuth-Copper deposit with a 3,000 m drilling program
Arctic Star Exploration Corp. discovered 5 new diamondiferous kimberlite pipes on their Diagras property. The Sequoia kimberlite yielded 499 stones from a 505.3 kg sample. Arctic Star also announced a 6,000 line-km airborne EM survey at 75 m line spacing. North Arrow Minerals Inc drilled 6 holes on their Loki Project, which did not intersect the source of the prominent kimberlite indicator mineral train.
In the 2021-22 fiscal year, the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment (ITI) awarded $1 million through the Mining Incentive Program (MIP) to 15 successful applicants (7 corporate and 8 prospectors), primarily for early-stage mineral exploration projects. The Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) confirmed an additional $500,000 in funding to support a second call for MIP applications in 2021-22, bringing the total program budget to $1.5 million. The one-time winter MIP offering is focused on winter exploration and will provide five awards of $100,000 each for mineral deposit targeting, mineral deposit testing, and innovative research and development projects that support advanced exploration and mineral production. From 2014 to 2018, the MIP directly leveraged $11.8 million in company and prospector exploration spending. Historically, spending by companies and prospectors has been 3-4 times the MIP funds dispersed.