Mackenzie River basins, mostly in Alberta. The cold northern permafrost regions beyond the Arctic Circle are very sparsely populated, mainly by indigenous peoples. Most of the Mackenzie watershed is unbroken wilderness and human activities have little influence on the overall water quality, although there are some localized impacts. Some parts of the Mackenzie basin are rich in natural resources – oil and gas in the Northwest Territories and in central Alberta, lumber in the Peace River headwaters, uranium in Saskatchewan, gold and zinc in the Great Slave Lake area and tungsten in the Yukon. As of 2003 there were two operational gold
Fond du Lac River (Saskatchewan) Fond du Lac River (Saskatchewan) The Fond du Lac River is one of the upper branches of the Mackenzie River system, draining into the Arctic Ocean, located in northern Saskatchewan, Canada. The river is long, has a watershed of , and its mean discharge is . The river begins at an elevation of at Cunning Bay on Wollaston Lake. It flows north to Hatchet Lake at an elevation of and continues to Waterfound Bay at an elevation of , where the tributary Waterfound River enters from the left. The river continues north to Kosdaw Lake at an elevation of ,