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THE NORTHERN MINER | JULY 2026
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China question clouds Nunavut road-to-port plan FAR NORTH
| Mines to anchor new infrastructure corridor
BY BLAIR MCBRIDE AND HENRY LAZENBY
“The federal government’s elevation of Arctic sovereignty is the final push to get this project into construction, but the concept started with Inuit leaders.”
A
Chinese state-backed miner owns the remote Izok Corridor in Nunavut, one of the richest zinc deposits in the world, and the Canadian government has provided some financing for the $1-billion Grays Bay Road and Port project (GBRP) running right to it. The corridor, which is about 350 km from the nearest permanent road, has passed through the hands of several owners including Texas Gulf, Falconbridge and OZ Minerals before China Minmetals bought OZ in 2009. That was more than a decade before Ottawa hardened national-security reviews of takeovers. In an era of threatened Arctic sovereignty, trade war battles over critical minerals and rising resource nationalism to tackle China’s dominance in nearly all things mining and mineral, some experts say the Nunavut road and port development is astounding. It’s like Ottawa is building for Beijing. “There are significant national security risks with MMG,” Joshua Kroker, a research fellow at the Trent University linked-North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network, told The Northern Miner. “Even if the federal government approves the road, are they even going to approve these licences for mines, given the possible national security impacts?” Road to resources Of course the situation is complex. The list of previous owners shows how difficult it is to develop a base metals project when prices are low. And it highlights how the mining industry needs Chinese capital to develop mines where others fear to tread. MMG spent more than $70 million in Izok Corridor studies and exploration in the region from 2009 to 2024, as well as a four-year commitment of $90 million to further advance the project. The Hong Kong-listed company is aware of the optics of a Chinese-owned critical metals project in Nunavut. “Geopolitics and minerals have always been complex,” Catherine Knight, MMG’s Vice President Canada, said in an emailed response to questions. “While MMG’s ownership structure—CMC is our major
ELLIOT HOLLAND, COO, WEST KITIKMEOT RESOURCES
Ready for takeoff: MMG’s Izok Corridor zinc-copper project sits on a $1-billion capex transportation route primed for federal funding. MMG
The exploration camp at the Izok project. MMG
shareholder—presents some challenges in investment… we understand that any investment in Canada by MMG will be governed by Canadian laws and commitments to supporting Canada’s critical minerals policy.” Ottawa has already used national-security review powers to nix
a Nunavut mine transaction. In late 2020, Ottawa rejected the US$150-million takeover of TMAC Resources and its Hope Bay project by China’s Shandong Gold Mining. Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE, TSX: AEM) later bought the asset. In 2022, federal officials ordered three critical mineral companies to
divest Chinese investors, and later diverted a stockpile of rare earths from Chinese control. In recent years, a few other firms have redomiciled to avoid Ottawa’s scrutiny. As for how much Canada considers foreign ownership when evaluating support for a project like GBRP, The Northern Miner asked Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson’s office for comment. “With regard to security, the Investment Canada Act provides for a national security review of any foreign investment into Canada, regardless of its value,” NRCan spokeswoman Maria Ladouceur said by email. “Due to confidentiality provisions of the Act, the government cannot comment on specific transactions.” Grays Bay project GBRP, whose sole proponent is West Kitikmeot Resources (WKR), would see a deepwater port on the Arctic Ocean, an airstrip and a 230-km all-season road running through Nunavut and into the Northwest Territories.
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