Resource companies say projects iced by northern regulators, Uravan, MGM walk away from projects in Nunavut, N.W.T.

Resource companies say projects iced by northern regulators, Uravan, MGM walk away from projects in Nunavut, N.W.T. by CBC News, November 9, 2012
Two exploration projects, one in the Northwest Territories and one in Nunavut, have been abandoned, and the companies behind them are blaming regulators. Environmental assessments were ordered for Uravan Minerals’ Garry Lake uranium drilling program in Nunavut and MGM Energy’s fracking project in the Sahtu region of the Northwest Territories. MGM announced this week it has withdrawn its regulatory applications to do the horizontal fracking. … MGM’s decision to withdraw applications for its fracking project in the central Mackenzie Valley came after the company’s partner, Shell Canada, decided it didn’t want to pay to go through an assessment. MGM’s vice president of exploration, John Hogg, said the cost of a environmental assessment is too high for the relatively unproven Canole shale formation, especially because the company doesn’t know how much an assessment would cost or how long it would take. But a Calgary-based oil and gas analyst says MGM is being less that forethright in blaming regulators. “Fracking is a very controversial means of extracting oil and gas,” said Doug Matthews. “Why anybody would think there wouldnt’ be an open-ended and fairly extensive regulatory review is beyond me.” MGM still plans to drill a conventional well this winter, as well as water wells, in an attempt to gather more data. The company is also building a winter road to its site 25 kilometers southwest of Tulita. However work planned for 2014 is now cancelled. [Emphasis added]