Power needs dominated discussion at the recent MINEx conference in Labrador West.

Lab City Mayor Jordan Brown says the local mining sector contributes an estimated 5 per cent to the province’s Gross Domestic Product and more, reliable power is needed to build continued economic growth.

NL Hydro updated the conference on what’s needed to establish a long-promised third power line to Labrador West.

Brown says the pause put on negotiations surrounding the Upper Churchill MOU is not only affecting development, but investment in the region as well.

“At MINEx we actually had Japanese investors who are in doing work with Kami, who bought almost 50 per cent of the Kami project, they were at MINEx talking to people as well. And they can just as easily say, ‘you know what? This is an unstable place to invest in,’ and disappear. The uncertainty is probably not going to be helping my case and anyone’s case to sell this region as a place to invest.”