Depending on who you talk to, mines in the NWT either pay a pittance of mining royalties or the hurdles of remoteness, operational costs and taxes are strangling investment in new mines.

By 2019, the GNWT will debate a new Mineral Resources Act, intended to SA国际影视传媒渃reate homegrown legislation to increase competitiveness in the mining sector,SA国际影视传媒� according to the department of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

With the best data available, Frame Lake MLA Kevin OSA国际影视传媒橰eilly estimates that for $38.7-billion in extracted resources between 1999 and 2017, companies paid $1.15-billion in royalties, or three per cent of production value.

A key report by natural resource governance consultant Andrew Bauer described the territorySA国际影视传媒檚 royalty revenues as SA国际影视传媒減altry.SA国际影视传媒�

The NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines characterized that report as SA国际影视传媒渂ipolarSA国际影视传媒� and SA国际影视传媒渕isleadingSA国际影视传媒� in its submissions on the GNWTSA国际影视传媒檚 draft legislation.

Mining companies already face an assortment of taxes, including the pending carbon tax, said the chamberSA国际影视传媒檚 executive director Tom Hoefer in an interview with News/North.

Hoefer maintains that when Diavik goes offline in 2025, the start up of Pine Point, Prairie Creek and NICO mines wonSA国际影视传媒檛 be enough to replace lost labour demand.

A proposed Mineral Resources Act should improve conditions for mining, rather than make the territory less competitive, he said.

An uncertain climate for investors is driving off necessary exploration and investment required to open new mines, said Hoefer.

OSA国际影视传媒橰eilly has repeatedly pressed Industry, Tourism and Investment (ITI) Minister Wally Schuman and Finance Minister Robert C. McLeod to take more royalties from the mining industry and to improve government transparency on the collection and reporting of revenues.

In September, Schumann told News/North that royalties were not on the table in the 18th assembly.

The royalty regime handed down to the GNWT through devolution remains largely unchanged, a key complaint for which OSA国际影视传媒橰eilly took the minister to task during the Oct. 31 non-confidence vote, which Schumann survived.

SchumannSA国际影视传媒檚 stance on resource revenues is SA国际影视传媒渢he most serious issueSA国际影视传媒� for which he voted to remove the minister from cabinet.

SA国际影视传媒淲hile billions of dollars of resources are extracted here each year, revenues to our government have been described by an international expert as paltry and our management as SA国际影视传媒榦ne of the world's most charitable fiscal regimes for the mining sector,SA国际影视传媒橲A国际影视传媒� said OSA国际影视传媒橰eilly.

OSA国际影视传媒橰eilly wants mining in the territory, he said, but asked that Schumann prioritize public interests, as the minister responsible for both promoting and regulating resource development.

The NWT and Nunavut are the only Canadian jurisdictions without a standalone mining act, leaving it at a competitive disadvantage, states the ITI website.

In its consultation stages, the GNWT heard that a new act should preserve jobs, spread the benefits of mining to local communities and protect wildlife and the environment. The GNWT also heard the need to establish safeguards for abandonment and remediation of mines and improved transparency.

Existing data on royalties collected on non-renewable resource commodities conceals the value of individual commodities, said OSA国际影视传媒橰eilly.

This frustrates efforts to determine exactly who is profiting from extraction and whether the territory gets a SA国际影视传媒渇air shakeSA国际影视传媒� of benefits from extraction, said OSA国际影视传媒橰eilly.

The public doesn't have access to separate royalty figures for individual commodities extracted in the NWT, despite a growing trend of transparency for reporting resource revenues, he said.

SA国际影视传媒淲hile our government receives more from tobacco tax than royalties this year, Cabinet has cut programs and service in the name of fiscal austerity and refuses to review our resource royalty regimes,SA国际影视传媒� he said.

The NWT has several pieces of draft legislation on mining and protected areas, all of which will change the face of mining, said Hoefer.

He opposes embedding specific royalty regulations within the act and is asking the GNWT to use a SA国际影视传媒渓ess detailedSA国际影视传媒� NWT Mineral Resources Act to allow the creation of more specific regulations outside the act.

The chamber asked for an online staking mechanism to decrease costs in the exploration stage and make it easier to meet work requirements, said Hoefer.

There is SA国际影视传媒渃oncern about the sizeSA国际影视传媒� of the proposed Thaidene Nene protected area, which would be closed to development, without complete land use planning and studies on mineral values, he said.

Mines SA国际影视传媒渘eed access to landSA国际影视传媒� but unsettled claims, including Akaitcho, create uncertainty for investors, said Hoefer.

In a response to consultations on the proposed act, the chamber requested that the GNWT resolve land claims and that interim withdrawal lands be put back into circulation for exploration after 10 years of stagnated claims.

The GNWT slated a draft of the act for this fall, followed by a consultation on how it will affect treaty rights under Section 35 of the Constitution Act. The bill wonSA国际影视传媒檛 be introduced and debated in the assembly until fall 2019.

While the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines isnSA国际影视传媒檛 flatly opposed to royalties, Hoefer said it classifies it as another tax that shouldnSA国际影视传媒檛 be outlined in the new Mineral Resources Act.

SA国际影视传媒淭he public would benefit from information on gross royalties collected,SA国际影视传媒� stated the chamber in its submissions.