Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
In my statement, I discussed the fact that China has generally been having a monopoly around some of the critical minerals that we're looking at to go forward in the green economy. Can the Minister speak about whether or not, given the current global situation and China's involvement perhaps with the war in Ukraine, if we're seeing an uptake around interests in our resource sector from perhaps companies that maybe were using China before and maybe now are looking for a more ethical source for their resources. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I haven't necessarily seen a direct uptake as of this moment although I will certainly say that I'm also keeping an eye on the situation globally and on the demand situation. I expect that we may well start to hear more about this as the coming year unfolds. There certainly have been a lot of changes with respect to well, for example, zinc. A lot of attention being paid in the news around critical minerals and metals, around having access to the minerals and metals that are needed for clean energies. And again, certainly, Mr. Speaker, I don't think there's any great surprise for those who follow the news and articles that a lot of the resources in this area right now are coming from different parts of the world and different countries which, you know, may be facing some significant supply chain issues for a variety of reasons, and that is just one more reason why we are putting ourselves out as being a place that should be the next that should be the next place for companies to be coming in and seeing their seeing investment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think the Minister and I are on the same page when it comes to how Canada could capitalize and how the Northwest Territories can capitalize on this situation and improve our economy.
In her response, the Minister brought up one of the minerals, which is zinc. Currently, one of the few projects that we actually have progressing towards an actual mine is the zinc project at the Pine Point being operated by Cisco.
Can the Minister maybe give us a bit of an update on where that project is at through the regulatory process, and do we expect that we will be able to start mining there in time for the predicted peak in 2023 for zinc prices? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, we've had the opportunity, in fact, to speak with Cisco, to speak with well, with a lot of our advanced projects just recently during just recently during the roundup that was occurring. I can say that they are right now doing they're undertaking their regulatory process. They are well underway. I understand, in fact, that it's moving along steadily and positively.
And I don't know that they'll be in production, my understanding, by 2023, Mr. Speaker, but it will be within the next two to three or I think the next three years, if I have the date correct which, given what's happening worldwide right now, will hopefully still be ample time for them to capitalize on rising zinc prices. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And yes, the original 2023 sort of target was definitely prepandemic times, and of course, I'm assuming everything has been delayed as a result.
I wanted to just move on and ask the Minister around another project that could potentially be very critical for not only Canada's strategy but also for economic development in the Northwest Territories. Given that the Tlicho AllSeason Road is now opened, this does open up an area of resource development around the NICO Mine.
Could the Minister speak to whether or not there has been progress on that project and the development of that? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again more good news on this front as well, that, yes, the NICO Mine certainly will stand to benefit from the existence of the Whati or the Tlicho road. I understand that they're in discussions or may, in fact, even have concluded discussions with the Tlicho government with respect to an additional spur road that'll connect them.
And importantly, they've chosen a site in Alberta that will allow them to conduct their own processing. So that, to me, tells a story of multi levels of government all being involved, Tlicho government, our government, and now in Alberta as well and which shows, you know, really, that the resources we have here in the North can benefit and make us a place that all of Canada should be paying attention to because they can have benefits that extend beyond our territories but also at the same time, have those important benefits within the territory. So you know, I think this is really an exciting opportunity as well that's one to be paying attention to. I am hopeful that we will continue to see some good news and that they will, you know well, again, I guess maybe I'll stop there. It's a news story, Mr. Speaker, and it's one that is it's worth being told because it's being done, you know, again in conversation with Tlicho government as well as our government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, I also agree with the Minister around this conversation as well. I think there's so many great opportunities there around that these roads, and I've often spoke about how we need to have roads in order to do anything in our territory and, really, it is a basic need that we are lacking.
This may be slightly not the Minister's area, but maybe the Minister could speak a bit about I've talked about linear infrastructure corridors in the past, and one of those would be the transmission line to Whati and whether or not there would be the opportunity to run that along the taser versus across sort of pristine or untouched land.
Can the Minister speak to whether her department or ITI is facilitating or leading discussion around this type of multi department approach?
The reason I ask is that, you know, if we were to run power along the taser and along the highway to get to the taser to begin with, this would allow us to start developing along the highway and along the taser as well as offshoot projects.
So could the Minister speak a little bit to where she sees that going and whether or not she's working with the Department of Infrastructure to facilitate those linear infrastructure corridors? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, I'm happy to say that myself and Minister Archie, as the Minister responsible for Infrastructure and Northwest Territories Power Corporation, do meet regularly and are the teams of the departments do meet regularly.
It's not only with respect to the taser and Whati and a connection into Whati; this is something that we're looking at on a much larger scale as well with respect to the Taltson, for example, and ensuring that as the Taltson is moving forward that potential projects around the southern half of the of the Northwest Territories are connected, that they are connected in with what that project might look like, that they have MOUs signed and ready with NTPC, Northwest Territories Power Corporation, so that and, you know, to ensure that we're moving forward in a way that's going to provide the best possible business case to Taltson but also a good business case for those industries and for these projects. And so that definitely is a role that ITI plays as a pathfinder and that my colleague is playing as we're preparing work on the Taltson. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
