All right, mahsi. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks. So does that go to the Members of the Intergovernmental Council, or does it go to nonIntergovernmental Council Indigenous governments. Thanks.
Mahsi. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's not going to the towards the Intergovernmental Council process or to the Intergovernmental Council itself. That has a separate funding arrangement. It is for nonIGC members. Thank you.
Mahsi. Mr. O'Reilly.
Okay, thanks. Yeah. Yeah, look, and I compliment the department. They seem to be very successful in getting money out of the financial management board for resource management legislation. I just wish that ENR and Lands was as successful because they don't seem to get any extra money for their work. So that's just a comment, Mr. Chair. As much as I would like them to get money to do things, particularly in terms of public participation, that doesn't seem to happen. But are we actually going to get mining regulations before the end of this Assembly? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I expect we will see the draft regulations before the end of the Assembly. There is still going to be the gazetting process and probably a section 35 consultation process. And I don't know that those two pieces will be complete before the end of the Assembly. Because this has gone through the IGC's legislative protocol development process, I expect that the section 35 process will be, hopefully, straightforward, though certainly don't want to presume, and then thereafter the gazette process is also standard. So those two pieces are likely to be after the end of the Assembly. Thank you.
Mahsi. Mr. O'Reilly.
Okay, thank you for that. And will these regulations, and the Minister's talked to us before about this, I think there's like four or five different sets, is one of them going to be on royalties? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Minister.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, that's correct. Thank you.
Mahsi. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yeah, I attended the geoscience forum. There was a public presentation given by, I think it's a consultant that's been hired by ITI to do some modeling. Is that money reflected in here somewhere and where is that work at? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I expect that is going to find itself under the contract services line item. I don't have the specific here. But it would be in the contribution it would either be reported under the procurement reporting that takes place around our own grants and contributions report. So I can figure out which one of the two it is and provide that to the Member.
Mahsi. Mr. O'Reilly.
Yeah, thanks, Mr. Chair. I have a funny feeling I probably got a couple of Members statements lined up on that subject as well so I don't think I'll pursue that any further here right now. But I will say that I'm interested in seeing the modeling , and I think committee should probably have a say in that, in what gets modeled or at least better understand or perhaps suggest some kind of modeling that might be done but that might be coming to the Minister in a different way.
So there's some other contributions here I'd like to ask about. The NWT Chamber of Mines, the $50,000 in core funding, can someone explain to me what that is going to be used for in 20232024? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, it's not core funding, and let me just preempt the question. They did not get any 2.2 percent inflationary increase. As for what this is going to be used for, I'll ask the deputy minister to speak to that, please.
Deputy minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, yes, as the Minister stated, with the grants and contributions to the Chamber of Mines, they're all project specific. We do work on them to deliver different events at the geoscience forum here, at roundup, other promotional products such as Mining North Works, on their website. So, yes, they're all based on actual projects within that budget item, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Well, we've had this debate many times if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, squawks like a duck, it probably is a duck, so.
I'd like to move on to so there's this thing called Indigenous mineral development support program. And I note that the territorial agrifood association put on a recent or I guess it's still coming up. February 20232024, Grow NWT; it's a conference on agriculture. Where would Indigenous governments or, you know, NGOs in general, go to ITI to get money to attend a conference like that? Could they apply to this, you know, Indigenous mineral development support program for funding to go to an agrifoods conference? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, Mr. Chair, this again, this is funding that's under the mineral petroleum resources portion of ITI's funding, which I would note gets 26.8 percent of the budget whereas the economic diversification and business support services gets 30.8 percent of the budget. So there may well be some funding that's available under those areas or perhaps through various other departments in the Government of the Northwest Territories that provide supports to Indigenous governments. Thank you.
Mahsi. Mr. O'Reilly.
Great. Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yeah, I appreciate that. Pass it on to some folks that I know. So I would like to know, you know, the name of this activity is minerals and petroleum resources. So how many staff does ITI have that are assigned to oil and gas or petroleum resources, and are all those positions filled right now? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, let me see if perhaps the deputy minister might have that the number in terms of the positions oh well, we do have. Six positions right now, Mr. Chair, in the PRO office. As for whether they are filled, again let me see if the deputy has that information. If not, we'll get back to the Member. Thank you.
Mahsi. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yeah, so I guess in the last fiscal year there was a review done for OROGO in terms of looking at their needs and so on given that oil and gas activities are way way down. In fact, I don't think there's anything happening other than some oil abandonments, maybe M18 perhaps if it ever gets going. But has ITI actually ever done kind of a needs assessment, a review of its oil and gas resourcing, and, you know, the staff levels and so on in that part of its department you know, activities, to look at whether there might be some efficiencies there? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So there certainly is I mean, there's going to be some work that is still underway that for example, there's still management of assets. There's still monitoring of areas where interest is being held. The staff in Inuvik are also working on the mineral development mineral resources mineral resource regulations development. There is M18, as noted. So it's not necessarily a traditional sense of out drilling oil rigs. There's still a fair bit of work that needs to be undertaken and that is undertaken by this office. And as I'm saying this, there's a flood of information from staff coming in as to all the various and many things they do. So perhaps I suggest rather than listing that off now and taking the time, I can certainly provide a brief explanation to the Member to describe what that office is responsible for. Thank you.
Mahsi. Ms. Nokleby.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I just wanted to start on page 234 with the increase in funding to the NWT geological survey. I do know that $50,000 of that is to explore the possibility of using the fine silica sand at the Nechalacho rare earth deposit, whether or not there's some sort of cement potential for that. And could the Minister speak to, do we have the results of this assessment around the potential there and if so, do we have potential there? Thank you.
Mahsi. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Let me see if the deputy minister has a more up to date report.
Deputy minister.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. So, yes, that increase is both for $200,000 for the mining incentive program and $50,000 for the cement production. So I'm happy to report that the work is being conducted with the University of Alberta. They were up for the geoscience forum. They have scouted locations for cement products and have poured the first prototype. So that is very good news. So the program is underway. They will be reporting on results as we go. So good news on the infancy and again this helps for our capital projects for not importing, you know, these products, you know, all of that reducing our GHG. So we will report on the results as they are available. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Ms. Nokleby.
I never thought I would be so excited about hearing about cement but, yes, I'm really happy to hear that there is that potential. And it is my understanding that not only could it be used for basic cement products but that it is also such a high grade that there's other really sort of niche applications for some of our sand. So I think that's awesome, and I am excited to look into that or get more information on that as it progresses. And thank you for answering what the other portion of that money or that increase was for, because that was going to be my next question. So I appreciate that.
I just wanted to ask a little bit about the Chamber of Mines. And so I know that the Minister explained that the $55,000 supports various activities. Given that mining plays such a huge part in our industry, and pretty much is our industry as I said earlier in my reply to the budget address, besides the government itself, you know, and given that tourism, which is such a small portion of our industry gets such a huge investment of millions of millions of dollars, it's actually quite shameful to me that we only provide the Chamber of Mines with $55,000.
Recently, we attended the geoscience forum. There was a lot of excitement for that to be inperson once again, however, it was apparent that the chamber is struggling to meet the demands of the industry and to do the correct lobbying that such an important industry and contributor to our GDP would require. And I don't get that difference between why tourism is getting such a if we go to when we get to the next pages, I think it's, like $6 million and the Chamber of Mines is only getting $55,000. Can the Minister speak to whether there's a plan to increase funding to the Chamber of Mines? Thank you.
Mahsi. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I mean, some of this will be owing to historical funding arrangement. I would note with respect to Northwest Territories Tourism as an organization specifically, the function of providing marketing and promotion of tourism was handed over to Northwest Territories Tourism. So they do get a larger proportion of funding in that respect because they don't have some of the programs and services or rather, they are undertaking programs and services that used to at one time be done by the GNWT and therefore are an organization that is actively acting in our stead whereas ITI continues to have, for example, the client service and community relations officers who would provide some of that similar pathfinding for the mineral resources sector. So there is a bit of a difference in function there. But I would acknowledge it is alive to me that the Chamber of Mines is facing some struggles and the fact is as the industry faces struggles and they're commoditybased, if they struggle, their own membership is less well placed to contribute and then that is exactly what would happen. So I don't have a solution for the sustainability of the Chamber of Mines right now, but we are alive to that challenge. Thank you.
Mahsi. Ms. Nokleby.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I appreciate that explanation because it is something that I've never actually really delved into but kind of always wondered about. And don't get me wrong, I fully support the tourism industry and I'm super excited to see all of the return of the blue parkas around town and here at the Chamber, coming in to see the Assembly while we've been in session and such, so fully deserved to the tourism industry. They're doing great work in getting our name out there. And, you know, there is also even a crosscomponent there. You know, there is a need now for or an interest in mining tourism. Diavik, before the pandemic I think it was Diavik I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong was planning to do some flights up to the mine and take people up there to show them what we do and, you know, sort of the difference that the diamond mining is because it is actually quite an inert type of mining compared to, say, gold or other heavy metals. So yes, I will actually be anticipating sometime in the next year seeing a significant ask for the Chamber of Mines to be increased given the essential need for that industry in our territory. Literally, it is the reason that we have been able to be afloat over the last few years.
In relation to that, some of the work the chamber does, and I believe they are part of this but it may be the Mine Training Society, is the prospector training course. I posted about the prospector training course on social media and it got a huge reaction to it. Actually surprisingly so, and not just from my nerdy geological friends.
So can the Minister speak to a little bit more about that training course, who's been putting it on and, you know, the intent for the future of it and expansion, really? Thank you.
Mahsi. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The prospector training course is indeed a success, and it's one that has had a lot of increasing uptake. Perhaps I'll just turn it to the deputy minister who might have some numbers to provide. Thank you.
Deputy minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't have the numbers offhand, but I can I'm happy to say that March will be the next delivery. During COVID, of course, we went to a virtual format. We're hoping that, you know, there can be both virtual and inperson formats provided because there's nothing like looking at rocks truly in the field. We deliver that through the Mine Training Society. It's one of their programs. I think they've got it down to an art now, to deliver that. And there have been some great successes out of it as well where some of those individuals taking it have staked claims and optioned them to companies. And, you know, it's just even people just wanting to know what they see when they're out there camping. So anyhow, we're glad that it's funding funding has come back to this program because it is oversubscribed and, you know, we are tracking those numbers. I just don't have them at hand here.
