To Baires' point . . .

http://www.timescolonist.com/northwest-territories-premier-calls-for-investment-to-support-mining-sector-1.2193751

...

"We have a very large infrastructure deficit," [premier of the Northwest Territories Bob] McLeod said in an interview Tuesday while in Toronto for the annual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference.

"We don't have a lot of highways. A lot of our communities are only accessible by air or by boat in the summer time. We use a lot of ice roads in the winter time to haul equipment and resupply our communities, and obviously climate change is affecting our ability to make ice roads, and they're not open as long."

McLeod says he has been in contact with the federal government, and he's "very hopeful" that the federal budget, which will be released on March 22, will address some of his concerns.

...

While some investors may balk at the idea of pumping money into mining projects at a time of depressed commodity prices, McLeod says now is the perfect time to do so....

Besides, the costs of building a project are much lower during times of economic downturn, McLeod says.

"When your economy is down, the costs of construction are a lot lower, the commodities that you have to buy are a lot cheaper, and there's a lot more skilled labour available," McLeod says....