Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further to my statement to the Minister of ITI, could the Minister tell me why he thinks the perception of the NWT as a place to invest in mining improved so much since the last year's Fraser Institute survey? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I think it is quite clear that the message that we have been putting out there to the global industry is getting through to them. We have participated in a number of events the last number of years and got in front of a number of people. We put the message out there that we have a world-leading jurisdiction with extraordinary mineral potential, we have great Indigenous participating around the mining industry, and we have the history getting some of these responsible projects off the ground.
At the same time, I think that the message is getting out there, as well, because one of the big topics of conversation when we are talking to these people is our infrastructure deficit. You can clearly see that, with our engagement with the federal government, we have been successful lately in securing some funding to look towards securing these projects. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thanks to the Minister for that answer. I think it is clear that Indigenous participation and collaboration are important, particularly in the Sahtu. We have a settled area. What can the Minister tell me about how this is being advanced under the mineral development strategy?
The mineral development strategy recognizes the importance of preparing Indigenous governments and communities to capitalize on mining exploration. That is well said and done. At the corporate and political leadership level, we have been working with our client-service relations unit, which has done a great job engaging with communities and Indigenous governments and facilitating their participation at events like roundup, PDAC, the NWT geoscience forum that we participate in. Those are some of the things that the department is working very closely on with the Indigenous people and community relations unit. They are doing a great job. They are pretty much our boots on the ground. We also have our other initiative, which is REDI, which travels around the Northwest Territories to give the community a better understanding of the mining and resource development and public education outreach for residents of the Northwest Territories.
As the Minister knows, there is an interested party, an interested company pursuing exploration. When I checked with the agency, the Sahtu Land and Water Board, they are pursuing permits accordingly. My third question is: what kinds of things has the government done as part of the mineral development strategy to increase exploration in the Sahtu and/or the NWT as a whole?
I think probably one of the best things that we have done was the MIP program, the Mining Incentive Program. We have allocated some money there, and we thank the Members for helping us increase that for our department. We have $1 million there now for each year to put toward promising exploration projects and prospectors across the Northwest Territories. I can say that we have actually leveraged quite a bit of capital on that. It has leveraged $8.82 million in spending over a $2-million investment for the first four years of this program. In fact, in the Member's riding, Evrim Resources, which he asked me about in the House here a couple of weeks ago, are one of the people that actually leveraged that and found one of the best global gold explorations in the Sahtu last year.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks for that reply there. My last question to the Minister is: what opportunities does the Minister see on the horizon for the Sahtu, and how can the Mineral Development Strategy support that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As I have said, the Evrim Resources project is an exciting one. That was supported by the strategy and the incentives that we supplied through the MIP program. There are also people like Danny Yakeleya, who is in his riding, who has been successful with some gold prospecting efforts that he has done up in that area, and he has also accessed some prospector training and funding through our program, as well. The other one that we are working on to market is the Cantung project. Along with the federal government, we don't just want to get our money back from this project; we want to be able to lay the foundation for good-paying jobs for residents of the Northwest Territories and opportunities for people in the Member's riding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
