450 metres of intact N.W.T. airstrip destroyed as part of nearby remediation project

The Salmita airstrip, approximately 250 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife near Courageous Lake, used to be a 1,500 metrerunway suitable for landing large aircraft such asBoeing 737s or Hercules-class heavy transport aircraft.

Not anymore.

This summer the federal Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) shortened the runway by about 457 metres.

Gary Vivian, president of the NWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines, is concerned the government did this without consulting any industries that might still use, or want to use, the runway.

Vivian said the airstrip is essential for mineral exploration companies, and he doesn't "believe for a minute that INAC shouldn't have been consulting industry."

The federal government is using material from the airstrip for the Tundra Remediation Project to contain arsenic and other contaminants left behind by a previous gold mine in the area.

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A department spokesperson said they needed the rockat the end of the airstrip. The rockwill be used as part of a contaminant containment system.

The department assessed other options, but it would have cost millions of dollars more to use material from a different site. The government's job, the spokesperson said, is to complete the remediation project in a cost-effective manner.

Vivian said the government could have used other material around the airstrip instead.

"It's easy access to material," he said.

The department said no industry users are paying for access to the airstrip, and "we're there to do our mandate."

"We're already kind of helping them out by letting them land there."

According to Vivian, the federal government has considered shortening the airstrip since 2011, but Seabridge Gold Inc., which has a project in the area, has been trying to delay the process.

"That strip is an essential piece of industry for both Seabridge and other exploration companies that work in the area," said Vivian.

There are 988 metresof airstrip left intact. The shorter airstrip still allows smaller planes to land, but it doesn't allow for larger capacity planes, such as a Hercules cargo aircraft, to land.

"The closer [to a project] that you can get your bigger machinery that you need to do your program, the cheaper the program's going to be," said Vivian.

A lack of Northern infrastructure has been cited in the past as a hindrance to investment in mining exploration in the North.

"This just keeps us at an unlevel playing field with people who want to invest."

Seabridge Gold declined to comment on the situation.