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Some Facts
The NWT is so large that it spans three time zones. Just one of the NWT's islands, Baffin Island at 507,451 square kilometers is twice the size of the United Kingdom. The Mackenzie River system is the longest in Canada, flowing more than 4,000 kilometers from its source in the Rocky mountains to the Arctic Ocean. In many places the river is more than two kilometers wide. Unlike many other northern rivers, it has no major rapids or waterfalls, making it an important navigation route. Other Major rivers include the Liard, Thelon, Coppermine, Hay, South Nahanni and the Slave. The NWT is covered with thousands of lakes, the two largest being Great Bear Lake and Great Slave Lake. These are also the fourth and fifth largest lakes in Canada. At 614 meters deep, Great Bear is also Canada's deepest lake.
Two major climate zones, the arctic and subarctic, divide the Northwest Territories. About half of the mainland area of the NWT and all the islands in the arctic archipelago lie in the arctic zone. The rest lies in the subarctic. -
Arctic: The geographer's definition
of the arctic varies from the popular conception that it is the
land lyin The generally accepted geographical definition of the arctic is the area in which the average mean daily temperature does not exceed 10 degrees Celsius. In the western NWT, the tree line runs close to the arctic coast but around Kugluktuk it begins to slant southeast finally crossing the Manitoba border and running just below Churchill. Everything north of the tree line is the arctic in a geographic and climate sense. The arctic climate generally is colder and drier than that of the subarctic. The mean temperature for January ranges from -26 C at lqaluit on south Baffin Island to -32 C at Chesterfield Inlet on the Keewatin Coast, to -33 C for Melville Island in the arctic islands. - Sub arctic: Winters in the sub arctic region of the Mackenzie Valley are longer and colder than in southern Canada. The summers, while short, are pleasantly warm. Temperatures in this region fall below O' C for seven months of the year, October to April. Extreme temperatures such as -57' C have been recorded but this is rare. In Yellowknife (the capital of NWT), the average daily temperature from November to March is -22'C .In Winnipeg, Manitoba, it is -12' C. An average difference of 1 1 degrees, day in and day out, for five months is considerable. Such differences have implications for the cost of winter heating in the area. The average annual number of degree-days of heating required in Yellowknife is 8,529 compared to Winnipeg 5,923. Degree-days are computed by subtracting the mean temperature for each day from 18 and adding all the degree-days of the year. The
average temperature in Yellowknife during June, July and August
is 14' C. In Winnipeg, it is 18' C. The average daily difference
in the summer months between Yellowknife and Winnipeg is only four
degrees. Extreme summer temperatures, such as 36' C recorded at
Fort Symposia in 1977, are rare in the sub arctic Mackenzie Basin.
Local effects such as nearness to bodies of water have a noticeable
effect on the frost-free period which ranges from 50 to 100 days
Economic Factors
These mines show that operations involving a great deal of outdoor work can be carried out successfully in the arctic. People and machines alike can operate outdoors in all seasons. However, the long and cold winters do cause a substantial increase in the cost of living. They add substantially to the cost of heating and cost of construction. Proper clothing is required to work outdoors. The transportation season, when transportation is dependent on water, ice roads and ice airstrips, is limited.
The
Mineral Sector is a wealth-generating and job-crea -
employs a lot a of Northerners,
for very high wages, with little or no cost to Government; Two distinct sectors comprise the mineral industry. Mineral exploration consists of prospecting, exploration, and development of a mineral property or deposit, requiring all associated services. Exploration activities are small scale and are environmentally benign. Calculating the economic impact of mineral exploration is difficult. But it is known from previous studies that exploration activity provides a lot of direct employment (albeit seasonal) and is important for growth in many service and retail sector businesses (e.g., aircraft, trucking, food, accommodation). As mineral exploration proceeds, activity becomes increasingly more focussed and successful exploration usually leads to mineral production, or mining at a specific location. The mining sector includes producing mines plus the services and support they require. Mining provides direct and indirect jobs and revenues such as royalties and taxes. The two sectors are interdependent. Factors that adversely affect mineral exploration could lead, in the future, to reduced mineral production. Increased mineral production attracts mineral investment and increased exploration. Both sectors affect other economic sectors such as construction, retail sales and services. Over the past 75 years, the history and development of the NWT has been closely tied to and driven by the mineral industry. Before the arrival of the European explorers and traders, aboriginal peoples used soapstone and copper to make into tools and to trade. Since the discoveries in the 1930’s of uranium, followed by gold, mining has been the driving force behind the development of the NWT. Much of the infrastructure in the NWT, including the Mackenzie Highway, the Hay River railway, Taltson and Bluefish power dams, and several airfields are a result of mineral production activity. This infrastructure has led and should continue to provide impetus for additional mineral exploration and production.
The territorial government is committed to facilitating the establishment of a value added diamond industry in the NWT. This industry will include sorting, cutting, polishing, grading and jeweler manufacturing, offering employment opportunities for northerners. The report by the federal/territorial Committee on Value Added Aspects of the Canadian Diamond Industry confirmed that value added industries are viable in the NWT. NWT has succeeded in attracting the attention of the diamond world and will continue to take steps towards establishing the NWT as the diamond capital of North America. -
Diamonds originate deep in the earth,
some 75 or more miles below the surface. In rare circumstances they
are carried to the surface by kimberlite pipes. Kimberlite pipes
are formed from only certain types of volcanoes, ones which explode
material upward from deep within the earth. Gem bearing kimberlite pipes are so rare that only 15 major diamond mines are in production worldwide. Since the initial discovery of diamonds in the fall of 1991, the BHP/Dia Met joint venture has discovered 100 kimberlites on their property at Lac de Gras. Development of the Ekati diamond mine is well underway, and production is expected to commence in 1998.
The petroleum-bearing areas of the NWT are located in, but not restricted to, the western NWT stretching from the Deh Cho starting at the Alberta/NWT border to the Mackenzie Delta/Beaufort Sea and on to the Sverdrup basin in the vicinity of Melville Island. The lack of pipeline infrastructure results in the need for larger discoveries as exploration moves north into the NWT. This is demonstrated by the abundance of discovered reserves in the Mackenzie Delta that are still not as economic as small pools in Alberta. The recent gas discoveries in the Fort Liard region of southwestern NWT focused attention to the geological potential in the NWT. The discoveries range in size from 200-600 billion cubic feet (bcf). Four new wells were connected to the Westcoast Energy's pipeline system in 2000 with a short additional pipeline and are now producing gas for the market.
Fish stocks in the Northwest Territories are harvested for subsistence, commercial and recreational use. Fisheries are particularly important to residents of smaller communities in the NWT, where the subsistence catch makes a crucial contribution to a healthy diet, and commercial harvests offer an opportunity for cash in communities where income earning opportunities are limited. To maximize the value from this resource, all possible uses must be considered. Studies have consistently shown that in many cases subsistence and sport fishing offer considerably higher value than the commercial fishery. As an example, the replacement value of arctic char harvested in the Baffin Region for food would exceed $3.00 per lb. while the commercial value of this fish is between $1.00 and $2.00 per lb. Depending on circumstances, sport fishing may yield an even higher return, up to $20.00 per lb. NWT OFFERS
Invest in the Northwest Territories The
business and investment prospects in the Northwest Territories (NWT)
have never been better. This period of prosperity, growth and development
is highlighted by Ekati, Canada's first diamond mine, which has
initiated production of some of the finest quality diamonds in the
world. There is a great potential for
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The
Land :The overall size of the NWT is about 3.4 million
square kilometers - about the size of India. The population of the
NWT, however, is about 67,000 - smaller than a bedroom suburb of
Toronto. This gives the NWT one of the lowest population densities
in the world - only two people for every 100 square kilometers.
g
north of the Arctic Circle. The Arctic Circle is the portion of
the earth north of which the sun does not rise for one or more days
during the winter and does not set for one or more days in summer.
It has no significant geographical or climatic significance.
The
greatest economic prospects in the NWT are tourism,
mining and oil and
gas development. For such operations,
climate is a cost factor but not a physical barrier. It does not
prevent construction activities or transportation by aircraft, truck
or tractor train. It does not prevent the establishment of living
conditions as comfortable as other parts of Canada. Pipelines and
mines operate successfully in the Mackenzie area and a lead zinc
mine operates at Nanisivik on Baffin Island. 
ting
sector. It produces export goods and creates direct jobs as well
as jobs in the service and small business sectors. The potential
of the mineral sector is almost unlimited, as the geological potential
of the NWT is virtually untouched. Mineral exploration provides
job and business opportunities to large and small NWT communities.
Mining is characterized by the following:
ishing:
In
many ways the economy is like a business. Knowledge and adaptability
are the key to success. 
others to follow. Many companies are taking advantage of the enormous
potential of the petroleum industry, and there are opportunities
for a variety of business ventures in transportation, tourism, forestry,
and arts and crafts. There is also a great deal of optimism associated
with the creation of two new territories.