Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are also for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Can the Minister maybe characterize what the decline in mining operations has been in the Northwest Territories due to COVID and maybe provide a bit of an estimate of the total number of companies that are expected to work on their mineral claims this upcoming fiscal year? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. All but one of the three diamond mines obviously remained in operation, and as of last month, the third one has come back online. The major contributors to our mineral resource industry have managed to operate through COVID-19, through strenuous efforts undertaken to be compliant, to protect their workers, which I really cannot understate. As far as the exploration side, Mr. Speaker, we have six advanced projects, all of which have been at least partially if not fully active. It's the smaller explorers and the smaller exploration companies who have, as I believe the Member noted in her statement, really struggled more. Now, of course, there is an exemption for mineral resource sector workers, and some have been able to operate. That certainly is one area that has struggled in the last year. That said, for 2021, Mr. Speaker, we are expecting higher levels of activity. In particular, there is a gold operator in Sixty North Gold Mining. They are a small-scale operator, but they are mobilizing to be ready to go for 2021. We are expecting an uptick in the next year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I'm not going to say it's good news, but I am glad to hear some people are still working. We have been hearing from companies that there is still a gap in the relief for some of the exploration companies that are required to do work on their claims to prove their claims, including drilling. Will the Minister commit to waiving all of the mineral claim work requirements for the upcoming years until COVID restrictions are lifted?
At this point, relief on work requirements on the mineral resource claims or mineral claims is enacted up to March 31st of this year, 2021, so quite a large number, I think just under 200, in fact, have benefitted from that, from that relief. At this point, Mr. Speaker, there is not, as I understand it, necessarily a need for blanket relief. Many have been able to continue to do the work on the claim. What I will say is: we are going to look at it, and what we are looking at is whether and to what extent we can be doing some case-by-case relief for those who legitimately cannot get to their claims and cannot get work done on their claims. I will make that commitment to look into it and to see where it goes and get back to the Member on what the conclusion of that is.
I thank the Minister for the pseudo-commitment to that. I will probably follow up myself and just explain a little better what gap I am talking about because I do have some specific items to discuss. My next question is: what is the future of claim relief? What is the department going to do to ensure that, once restrictions are lifted, we are supporting our mineral exploration sector to get back to work?
[Microphone turned off] ...number one, again looking at to what extent there can be some case-by-case relief in terms of the work requirements, but really could not agree more that we have good success right now with the diamond mines and really exciting early-stage exploration projects coming on, early-stage projects coming online. We do need desperately to get the exploration sector going and have it active. There is money out there. It's starting to look around to where to be spent, and we would like to see it spent in the North. This is the place, in my view, to spend it for exploration, so one of the big areas is the Mining Incentive Program. We are, again, offering that program in 2021-2022. We are seeing increases to the program again and looking to bring in those applications for that kind of support. There were some modifications made for COVID-19 and looking at what we can do to try to make that program more available, more flexible, considering some of the constraints that the exploration companies may be operating under. Again, last one on that one, Mr. Speaker, we have really excellent pathfinding services within ITI to help those early exploration companies, which are often smaller companies, to ensure that they have the supports that they need to follow the regulatory processes here, understand them, and be ready to roll when they get here.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do agree with the Minister that the department has some really great staff to help out with the exploration industry. What I didn't hear the Minister say was that she is going to be a real loud squeaky wheel with the federal government to get more money for our mineral exploration sector, so I will just take that as a given, and I will continue to work with her on that. My last question is that it is my understanding that a critical minerals and metals action plan is being developed for the Northwest Territories. Can the Minister comment on the timeline for the completion of this plan and any others that the department might be working on with Indigenous organizations or governments? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I have used every platform I think I have had in the last several months to talk about critical minerals and why the Northwest Territories needs to be on, and is on, the value chain for critical minerals, and why everyone should be paying attention to that fact, to federal partners all the way through exploration companies. We have extremely good critical mineral resources here in the Northwest Territories and an extremely good place for those who are particularly looking at green energy. This is the place where you want to come because of the ESG factors, environmental, social, and governance factors. This is the place to go. I have been saying that loud and clear on a number of fronts; now I get to say it here, so thank you to the Member for giving me that chance.
More specifically, right now, Mr. Speaker, we are part of the federal government's Canadian Minerals and Metals Plan, one of which is a component involving critical minerals. Specifically to the Northwest Territories, we want to align with that plan. The federal government has started it. We are looking within the next year, within roughly the next 12 months, to have our own plan in line with what's happening with the federal government so that we can best utilize whatever resources they might put towards their plan but, in addition to that, Mr. Speaker, continuing to work with regional governments so that there can be regional mineral development plans. There are resources within ITI to support regional governments who may want to develop their own plans, and that is a great opportunity for them to learn about the industry, to make themselves accessible to the industry. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
