Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. As many of us know, mining is the anchor of the NWT's economy. Mineral exploration is at a historic low. All diamond mines are rescheduled to close within 10 years. What is the GNWT doing to encourage mineral exploration and facilitate the development of new mines? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi, Member for Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As everyone knows, mines are funded by exploration activities, so exploration is essential if we are to find new and bigger mines in our territory. We need to remember that our four diamond mines in the Northwest Territories were all found by junior explorers. In the economic downturn of 2008, which we never recovered from, we had in the neighbourhood of $180 million a year spent on mineral exploration. This past year, we're probably down around 20 million, maybe $28 million, and it's largely a function of the low commodity prices. The Member knows mining is the largest part of our economy. It represents about 40 per cent of our economy. We have a Mineral Development Strategy, and we're working very closely with the Chamber of Mines and the mining industry to improve the environment, to deal with the regulatory process, while providing for balanced development by protecting the land and resources as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the Minister’s response. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister please elaborate that if mining and exploration does not continue to be supported by our government, what will be the potential impacts and effects on our fiscal situation?
We are also investing in strategic infrastructure, but we have done some significant analysis of the importance of mining, specifically diamond mining in the Northwest Territories, and our analysis shows that for every year that one diamond mine operates it's worth $250 million to our economy, so if one diamond mine closes, that is how much value is lost from our economy. If we have one that is shut down for care and maintenance, that’s had significant impact. It's 500 jobs that are lost. Our approach is to try to keep what we have and also try to attract exploration back into the Northwest Territories. It's very difficult to do, because the miners have long memories and their money has legs.
Oral questions. Final supplementary, Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you. This is my final question, and again I appreciate the Minister's reply. I wonder if the Minister would elaborate, aside from the mineral strategy, on what specific programs that we have in place for supporting mining and exploration.
We have a number of programs to help stimulate the mining industry. We have, as I said, the Mineral Development Strategy, which is a strategic plan to increase mineral exploration and mine development in order to ensure residents with a sustainable economy. We also have a Mining Incentive Program that provides partial support for junior mining companies and prospectors for exploration activities. This program has been oversubscribed since its launch two years ago and has been credited in several new mineral discoveries being made in the Northwest Territories. We also have introduced a two-year assessment work incentive to encourage more exploration activities. This program will provide a temporary incentive to assist the mineral exploration industry to maintain its mineral tenure through financially challenging times, and as I said, we are looking to utilize some of the federal infrastructure funding to provide some strategic investment so that it will make mining projects that have been approved more feasible and better able to access development funding.
