Until July 29th, the GNWT is requesting your input on how Mining Royalties will be managed under the new Mineral Resources Act.

Through its partnership in the Intergovernmental Council (IGC) and the work of the Department of Industry Tourism and Investment, the GNWT is seeking the advice and insights of Indigenous governments and organizations, industry, elected officials and the public.  What is heard will be considered with what is learned from financial modelling and other research and analysis to inform policy options for regulations concerning mineral resource royalties in the new Mineral Resources Act.

 

They are the payments made by mining companies to the Territory. Because natural resources are commonly understood to be public property, the developer of a resource extraction project is required to pay a royalty to the government of the jurisdiction from which the resource is removed. This will be the first revision of the NWT’s resource regulations since the 1990’s when updates were incorporated to reflect the emergence of the diamond industry in the NWT.

 

The Review of Resource Royalties in the NWT - Discussion Paper summarizes the main issues, and outlines ways in which Regulations that support the Mineral Resources Act (MRA) could be updated to reflect the Territory’s evolving needs. This public engagement opportunity is the latest step in a multi-phased public engagement and consultation process that began with the release of the PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) 2020 report on Benchmarking of the NWT Mining Fiscal Regime.

 

 

Once changes to the NWT’s royalty regime are recommended for the new NWT Mineral Resources Act, they will be advanced as part of ITI’s overarching approach to the development of regulations for the Mineral Resources Act. A series of additional steps, including Section 35 consultation, will ensure a robust review is completed.

 

Ongoing discussions and work with Indigenous governments is being advanced in accordance to the Intergovernmental Council on Land and Resource Management: Legislative Development Protocol, developed to formalize the collaborative process for land and resource legislation development by the Intergovernmental Council (IGC) and participating Indigenous governments and organizations.