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Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1498118
INVEST in BC 2 0 2 3 49 Official Publication of the BC Economic Development Association. In special partnership with BCBusiness. NORTH COAST/NECHAKO ▷ Atlin ▷ Burns Lake ▷ Cassiar ▷ Dease Lake ▷ Fort St. James ▷ Fraser lake ▷ Granisle ▷ Hazelton ▷ Houston ▷ Kitimat ▷ Masset ▷ New Hazelton ▷ Port Clements ▷ Port Edwards ▷ Port Simpson ▷ Prince Rupert ▷ Queen Charlotte City ▷ Sandspit ▷ Skidegate ▷ Smithers ▷ Telegraph Creek ▷ Telkwa ▷ Terrace ▷ Vanderhoof SHARE OF B.C. POPULATION 2% Export Driven The northwest continues to draw more than its share of major project investment LNG CANADA T hough sparsely populated, the North Coast/Nechako region has always punched above its weight in terms of its contribution to the provincial economy. For more than a century it's provided a vital second transcontinental rail corridor and Pacific Coast port for trade between Canada and Asia. Since the 1950s it has been home to the Kitimat aluminum smelter (now owned by Rio Tinto), the largest manufacturing operation in B.C. And it contains the Golden Triangle, a mountainous area rich in copper and precious metals that for decades has attracted the lion's share of the dollars spent on mineral exploration in the province. Today the North Coast is the site of the largest capital project ever undertaken in all of Canada. LNG Canada, a partnership of international energy companies led by Royal Dutch Shell, is midway through building a $36-billion liquefied natural gas export terminal in Kitimat, with a decision on a second phase expected at the end of 2023. It will be complemented by the $14.5-billion Coastal Gaslink pipeline, bringing natural gas from B.C.'s Northeast and Alberta to waiting LNG tankers in Douglas Channel. The business case for the project only got stronger in 2022, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine disrupted natural gas supplies to Europe and other markets—supplies that could potentially be augmented by imports from Canada BLOCKBUSTER: LNG Canada, under construction in Kitimat, is the biggest-budget industrial project ever to be built in Canada