Canada's buried treasures

The arrival of Californian prospectors in what is now British Columbia first turned the world's attention to Canada's hidden non-fuel mineral wealth. In 1858, Aboriginal people from the Fraser River Valley visited a downstream Hudson's Bay post and paid for their purchases with flakes or chunks of gold they found mixed in with the gravel and sand of glacial streams. Only a few weeks later, hordes of prospectors swarmed the Fraser River, igniting the Caribou gold rush.

Canada's metals potential soon enticed prospectors to venture farther across the country. A gold rush in the Yukon at the end of the 19th century and a diamond rush in the Northwest Territories at the beginning of the 21st have kept prospectors looking northward. And as the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway exposed rich mineral deposits on the Canadian Shield, miners were drawn deep into Ontario and Quebec. Today, city names like Cobalt, Val d'Or and Rouyn-Noranda are lucid reminders of the role the mining industry played in the development of Canada's frontiers.

At the start of 2003, there were some 190 principal metal, non-metal and coal mines, over 3,000 stone quarries and sand and gravel pits, and about 50 non-ferrous smelters, refineries and steel mills operating in Canada. Although the combined surface area of these operations is less than that of metropolitan Toronto, Canadians extract over 60 different mineral products from the intensive use of this space. Less than 0.03% of the land area of Canada has been used to produce minerals and mineral products.

Beach lovers around the world can thank New Brunswick's zinc miners for helping to protect them from the sun's rays. Canadian zinc, a popular ingredient in sunscreen as well as in galvanized steel, is exported to many European countries.

Copper is also widely mined in Canada: production of this metal, prized for its high electrical and thermal conductivity exceeded 577,000 tonnes in 2002, down from 614,000 tonnes in 2001. That year also saw the production of 178,000 tonnes of nickel, down from 184,000 tonnes in 2001. Nickel is employed largely in the manufacture of stainless steel. Sudbury, Ontario, is the largest single source of this metal in the world today.

Potash, used primarily in fertilizer, is another major mined export for Canada. In 2001, Canada produced over one-third of the entire world’s output of potash. And about 95% of Canada’s potash production is mined in Saskatchewan.

Canada's miners also play a significant romantic role: they are important producers of gold and diamonds. The 147 tonnes of gold mined in Canada in 2002 generated $2.3 billion. Though gold is mined in all but three provinces, gold production is dominated by Ontario and Quebec, which together accounted for over 73% of the total value in 2002.

Intense diamond exploration, focused primarily in the Northwest Territories, has thrust Canada into the world diamond market. In 2002, Canada was the world's fourth largest diamond producer after Botswana, Russia and Nambia. The Ekati mine at Lac de Gras, situated 380 kilometres north of Yellowknife, was Canada's first major diamond mine. Officially opened in 1998, it produces between four and five million carats of rough, primarily gem quality diamonds per year. A second mine, Diavik, started production in January 2003 and is slated to reach a peak production of eight million carats per year.

Canada continues to be the world’s leader in the production of uranium and ranks in the top five for the production of aluminum, zinc, gypsum, molybdenum, platinum group metals, salt, cadmium, titanium concentrate and asbestos.

This strength, however, can also be a weakness; as world prices have gone down over the last several years, so have the fortunes of Canadian mines. During 2001, 15 mining operations closed or suspended activity and only two came on stream. The difficult metals market has also driven down exploration expenditures from their peak of $921 million in 1997. In 2002, exploration expenditures stood at $534 million. This is, however, an increase from the year before where exploration expenditures were at $513 million. Despite the downturn in exploration, the new territory of Nunavut, with its large land mass, mining history, and potential for the discovery of gold, base metals and diamonds, should become a prime exploration location.

Also affected by low metal prices was the development of the enormous nickel, copper and cobalt deposit at Voisey’s Bay in Newfoundland and Labrador. The depressed metals market made the construction of a nickel refinery Newfoundland and Labrador's prerequisite for mining the deposit economically infeasible. Talks between the mining industry and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador remained stalled well into 2000.Shortly thereafter, however, talks resumed, and by 2002 preliminary development of Voisey’s Bay was well under way.