Mining ministers calling for rapid resource development
by Geordon Omand, The Canadian Press
Ministers in charge of mining in B.C., Northwest Territories calling for resource development despite pricing slump
VANCOUVER—A prolonged slump in global commodity prices hasn’t fazed provincial and territorial mining ministers, who are called for rapid natural resource development.
British Columbia’s Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett said he expected mineral prices to turn around in the near future.
“We’ve been down now three to four years, and these cycles typically last a maximum of five (years),” said Bennett, though he added that there are never any guarantees.
Bennett and David Ramsay, the Northwest Territories minister in charge of mining, were both in attendance at Roundup 2015, a yearly mineral exploration conference in Vancouver that brings together prospectors, scientists, investors and suppliers.
Ramsay has recently returned from a trade mission to China and Japan and said the role of resource development is paramount to growing the economy in Canada’s north.
“We’re a very well-endowed territory when it comes to mineral wealth,” said Ramsay, who also serves as the territory’s justice minister and attorney general.
