QUESTION 958-19(2): MACTUNG AND CANTUNG MINE SITES MR. O'REILLY: Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism, and Investment, who seems to have the lead on the management of the Cantung and Mactung properties. When I look at the list of creditors, I see that GNWT's owed $5.528 million from this operation. Can the Minister tell us how much North American Tungsten actually owes us, for what, and when we expect to recover that money? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. MR. SPEAKER: Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism, and Investment.
HON. CAROLINE WAWZONEK: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can go and look into the specific number the Member is quoting. My understanding is that when the GNWT purchased the Mactung asset, we did so and that became our asset. Canada, of course, owns the Cantung property. And at this point, the two parties tother are agreeing to market those assets as one and as such, as we go forward, there's nothing more owed to the GNWT by North American Tungsten. So again, I'll double check to confirm if there's some misunderstanding on what's on there, Mr. Speaker. At this point, we're proceeding with a process that's well underway and, in fact fairly advanced, in order to see that the Mactung and Cantung properties are sold and benefits are accrued to the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. MR. O'REILLY: Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I'll be happy to send her the list of creditors from the court-appointed receivers website, so. But as I understand it, GNWT has decided to try to market the Mactung property and the Cantung mine site with the feds but there has been little to no interest over seven years. Can the Minister explain what is going on with proposed sale of the Mactung property and when the taxpayers of the NWT can expect to recover their so-called "investment"? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
HON. CAROLINE WAWZONEK: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, these two properties were, of course, jointly owned previously by North American Tungsten. So not particularly unusual that we'd be looking to have them sold together now. What made it a bit more unusual is that you're involving multiple layers of governments. We've got the Government of Canada and the GNWT and even the Yukon government's involved to a certain degree in terms of this being -- the Cantung property being in the Yukon. All three, we're all coming together. There's governments in the region have come together. Much discussion has taken place. I'm pleased to say, Mr. Speaker, there's been an RFP out to some shortlisted proponents as of March of 2021.
It closed only just last month. And we are right now actually in the midst of reviewing those bids. A due diligence process needs to take place. But, Mr. Speaker, you might note that there's a bit of a delay between those two dates but that was entirely for the purpose of engaging further with some of the Indigenous governments in that region, and I'm very hopeful that we'll be in a position to report back positively in short order. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. O'REILLY: Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister again for that.
The Mactung-Cantung properties are 140 kilometres away from each other by air, 700 kilometres by road. It's unlikely that some buyer's going to take these on as some sort of viable mining operation without significant concessions and subsidies. Can the minister explain why GNWT's attempting to sell these properties together and whether we will offer further concessions and subsidies? Mahsi, Mr.
HON. CAROLINE WAWZONEK: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned in my last answer, Mr. Speaker, these two properties were jointly owned previously so having them as one unit under one owner is not particularly unusual. They are both highgrade Tungsten properties. Tungsten, of course, is one of the 31 critical minerals and metals on Canada's critical metals list, and under current geopolitical circumstances that may well help make these properties particularly in greater value and incentivize a private owner.
Mr. Speaker, again, we are working with Canada on this; Canada having the ownership of Cantung and us having Mactung. So we're working together to see that the two properties are sold together. And to do so, Mr. Speaker, there's no intention to start offering subsidies. That's not generally been the way that things happen in the Northwest Territories. We do have incentive programs, such as the mining incentive program, and that might help leverage some investment on the Mactung property in particular, which is an exploration property. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Frame Lake. MR. O'REILLY: Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister again for her response. The Cantung and Mactung saga is another example of post-devolution mismanagement of our resources. Can the Minister explain what lessons have been learned from our mismanagement of the Cantung and Mactung properties? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
HON. CAROLINE WAWZONEK: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not sure I would accept or agree with the characterization of "mismanagement" on this. I think the story has yet to be finished and is yet to be written. Indeed, as I've said, staff from the Department of ITI are quite active right now in terms of doing their due diligence and hoping for a positive outcome on the sale. In fact, if anything, Mr. Speaker, this has been an example where although at the time of the sale there was some disagreements perhaps between Canada and the GNWT about how to proceed, we were able to set aside what differences there were, sign an MOU, and are working together to market the properties and share in the costs of doing so and now work together with the Indigenous governments of the region as we proceed to a point where there is hopefully a final and solid proponent who could take over and move this forward.
So again, there's no doubt going to be some lessons to learn but it may well be that they're all positive outcomes in the end, and I'm sure we will be able to -- once I'll be able to share that, have more dialogue in the House about that process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
