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Canada's
Minerals and Metals
Key Facts
Canada’s
Minerals and Metals: A Global Presence
- Canadian firms
have interests in more than 6400 properties at all stages of the mineral
exploration process in over 100 countries around the world.
- These Canadian
projects include over 200 mines, smelters, refineries, plants under
construction, and other advanced mineral development projects in roughly
60 countries around the world.
- Canada ranks among
the world’s top five producers of 14 mineral commodities.
- In 2003, the proportion
of the world's total exploration planned for Canada was roughly 22%.
- Canadian-based
companies conduct about 40 percent of all mineral exploration undertaken
in the world.
- Although Canadian
companies operate all over the world, Canada remains the country where
they allocate the largest proportion, by far, of their global mineral
exploration programs.
- Canada’s
minerals and metals industry has involved approximately $50 billion
abroad. This represents about 12 percent of all Canadian direct investment
abroad.
Canada’s
Minerals and Metals: Contributing to Our Communities
- Over 150 communities
in Canada depend on mining. Most of these are in rural and northern
regions where several hundred Aboriginal communities are in close proximity
to operating mines and smelters.
- Approximately
1200 Aboriginal communities are located within 200 kilometres of
minerals and metals activities.
Canada’s
Minerals and Metals: A Key Feature of Our Economic Landscape
- Canada is one
of the largest mining nations in the world, producing more than 70 minerals
and metals.
- Canada is a leading
producer and exporter of minerals and mineral-based products. Exports
of minerals and mineral-based products are close to $50 billion a year,
averaging 13 percent of Canada’s total domestic exports. (These
figures include all minerals and mineral products, excluding oil and
gas.)
- In 2003, Canada’s
minerals and metals industry employed about 389 000 men and women:
approximately 47 000 were employed in mining, 87 000 in primary metal
manufacturing, and 255 000 in nonmetal and fabricated metal manufacturing.
- Canada’s
minerals and metals industry provides some of the highest weekly earnings
in the economy, averaging over $1000 in both the mining industry and
in nonferrous smelting and refining. In comparison, weekly earnings
in the Canadian economy average about $700.
- Canada’s
minerals and metals industry ranks among the top ten in GDP per worker.
- At the start of
2004 there were about 200 principal metal, nonmetal and coal mines,
over 3000 stone quarries and sand and gravel pits, and about 50 nonferrous
smelters, refineries and steel mills.
- Minerals and fabricated
mineral products account for almost 60 percent of total revenue freight
for the domestic railway system.
- There are more
than 1000 mining companies listed on Canadian stock exchanges, more
than in any other country.
- In 2003, Canadian
mining companies raised close to $6 billion in equity financing, more
than 45 percent of the world total.
Canada’s Minerals and Metals: Smart Resource Development
- Productivity growth
in Canada’s minerals and metals industry has typically exceeded
that of the total economy as innovation and improvements in human capital
have allowed the industry to remain globally competitive.
- Technological
advances have enabled the mining and processing of previously uneconomic
deposits by lowering production costs.
- Research and development
expenditures generated by Canada’s minerals and metals industry
total over $300 million per year.
Canada’s Minerals and Metals: Springboard of High-Tech Suppliers
- Canadian-based
companies have captured a significant share of the world market for
airborne geophysical equipment and geophysical equipment manufacturers
and related software developers, and Canadian data companies have a
strong international presence.
- Canadian companies
are part of a global mining business-to-business consortium using the
Internet to contract for supply and services to their operations worldwide.
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