JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Mining Association of Canada (MAC) has welcomed the launch of the federal government’s Trade and Transportation Corridors Initiative (TTCI), which will include an allocation of up to $400-million in dedicated funding for transportation infrastructure in Northern Canada.

The acute lack of infrastructure in Canada's remote and northern regions is inhibiting further sustainable mineral development owing to the high costs of exploring, building and operating in these regions.

A recent study co-authored by the MAC had found that it cost about two- to two-and-a-half times more to build a gold or base metals mine in northern Canada than in the south, as a result of the lack of infrastructure.

Northern communities are also dependent on carbon-intensive diesel power.

Through the TTCI, $2-billion has been allocated over 11 years to invest in the critical assets that support economic activity and the physical movement of goods and people in Canada.

"The federal government has made a significant commitment to Northern Canada through the TTCI,” MAC CEO Pierre Gratton said on Tuesday.

Building off the creation of the Remote and Northern Communities Fund, and the establishment of the Canada Infrastructure Bank, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau communicated an “unprecedented” vision for how infrastructure will transform remote and northern Canada – regions that are critically important to, and reliant on, Canada's mining sector.

"We believe government's commitment to northern infrastructure investment is both bold and essential for Canada's long-term economic growth, and certain to help attract new private sector investment," Gratton added.

The mining industry is ideally situated to generate significant and meaningful employment, spin-off business and other social and economic opportunities for Indigenous and remote and northern Canadians.

In the territories, for example, the mining industry is the single largest private sector employer of Indigenous peoples and customer of Indigenous-owned businesses, and the leading contributor to gross domestic product.