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Business Briefs Guy Quenneville Monday, November 3, 2008 Previous columns 
Newmont spending this year Newmont Mining Corporation spent $63 million dollars in infrastructure building costs this year at its Hope Bay gold mining project 75 kilometres northeast of Umingmaktuuq. The company built a camp at Hope Bay's Doris North deposit. Five million litres of fuel were delivered to site by barge. This winter, a total of 140 employees are expected to work on drilling the belt, the majority of them from Nuna Logistics, according to Newmont spokesperson Omar Jabara. Developments halted in Thelon River basin Last month the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board put a stop to three exploration projects in the Thelon River basin because, in its opinion, the area is of high spiritual importance to the Akaitcho Dene. The projects were proposed by Uravan Minerals Inc. and Bayswater Uranium Corp., both searching for uranium. The board, in its decision, said the proposed developments were "incompatible with the cultural values (the Akaitcho) associate with this spiritually significant landscape." Service setback for Arviat Cellular service to Arviat courtesy of Latitude Wireless has been delayed, according to Latitude. Spokesperson Chris McNutt said service to Arviat, slated to begin Oct. 15, has been pushed back to mid-November. "Falling within a six-week time window is pretty good for the Arctic," said McNutt, adding that the delay was mainly due to scheduling difficulties with technicians. Tough times for Tamerlane Tamerlane Ventures, the project behind the Pine Point project south of Hay River, is facing tough times due to the United States' ailing financial sector. This year the Washington-based company issued a feasibility study on Pine Point, but its share price has dropped substantially since last year. About a year ago the company's share price stood at $1.50. Its share price was $0.11 on Thursday this week. MGM drilling plans unveiled MGM has released details on its plan to drill four exploratory wells in the northwestern region of the Mackenzie Delta. Between the four wells, two of which were deemed worth exploring after seismic work detected them last year, MGM will spend a total of $74 million, made possible by money raised this summer, before the recent uncertainty of the world markets. "We expect to spud our first well before the end of December" said Henry Sykes, president ofMGM Energy. All work on the four wells is expected to be completed by mid-April. Nunavut retail sales increase slightly Nunavut retail sales went up slightly from July to August. Sales in August totalled just under $26.9 million, up by a slim $200,000 from July. August's tally represents a 6.3-per cent increase over the same period last year.
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