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Amidst Challenges, BC mineral Explorers See Years of Opportunity Ahead
Amidst Challenges, BC mineral Explorers See Years of Opportunity Ahead
January 14, 2010
By Gavin C. Dirom
President & CEO, AME BC
Discovering that elusive economic mineral deposit, followed by permitting, building and bringing new mines into production are the best indicators of success for mineral explorers. It’s a very rare and special feat - and one that every British Columbian can benefit from - if we put it all together.
Perhaps not widely known, BC has a proud mineral exploration and mining heritage that has generated an estimated $500 billion in gross revenues over the last 150 years from much less than 1% of the provincial land base, or an area smaller than Greater Victoria (540 square kilometres). Bear in mind that BC is vast covering over 944,700 square kilometres. By comparison, BC is three times the size of Germany and twice the size of France or California.
Today, the modern BC mineral exploration and mining sector employs over 85,000 people and represents $8 billion in annual economic activity including over $500 million in revenue to government - which is even more than the forestry sector. And this does not include spinoffs, multipliers or taxes paid by employees. While there is much to celebrate, there are also many issues to overcome in mineral exploration, primarily related to sharing the land base such that mineral development can continue to provide significant benefits to everyone.
Currently, about 13% of BC is held as mineral tenure where exploration is permitted. And yet some people perceive the extremely slim possibility (odds of 1 in 1000) of a mine to be such a threat that they are willing to consider significantly reducing the public’s high potential mineral land base, which is meant to benefit all British Columbians, with very little regard of the lost job opportunities and wealth it represents to the people of the province.
In reality, one of the biggest threats to our economic future in BC is the ongoing erosion of our publicly owned mineral lands that are open to responsible mineral explorers and developers. Sadly, because of land use issues primarily, there has been no major metal mine permitted and constructed in BC for over a decade. Add to this a growing number of overly restrictive wildlife management policies and regulations banning mineral exploration activities and restricting reasonable access to huge areas. Unfortunately, what is often taken for granted is the fact that the BC mineral land base actually belongs to everyone and we all have the right to access, and to benefit from, our mineral resources.
Over 14% of British Columbia is now parkland - which is more land under complete protection than any other province in Canada, and much greater than most other jurisdictions in the world. And an almost equal amount of BC is under special management where industrial activity is extremely uncommon. Combine this with our urban areas and about 40% of BC, equal to the size of Montana at 377,000 square kilometres, is effectively off-limits to potential mineral resource extraction.
On the positive side, there are more than 12,000 mineral occurrences in BC, with hundreds of exploration projects occurring near 50 communities throughout the province. But BC is under-explored and finding a mineral deposit that is potentially economic to develop is like finding a needle in a haystack - nevertheless, with a combination of patience, determination, skill and desire, it can be found.
BC’s mining future could be very promising indeed. With 30 mine projects under government review, or almost half of all such projects in Canada, a huge multi-generational economic opportunity exists in BC that can be measured in the billions of dollars. For example, mine projects that could move into production in the next few years include Imperial Metals’ Red Chris project, Terrane Metals’ Mt. Milligan, Taseko Mines’ Prosperity, New Gold’s New Afton and Copper Mountain's mine, among others. These projects will be developed and operated by people who live and work in BC and want to ensure that their project adheres to our world-class standards while creating high paying jobs in their local communities and generating revenue for years to come.
There is good fortune in BC - for we have rich geology and a proven track record, high environmental and safety standards and the people that have the knowledge to overcome challenges, whatever they may be. If we choose to work together and understand each other’s values, there are few reasons why British Columbians cannot achieve a more reasonable land use balance, share wisely and allow responsible mineral explorers to find those very rare and valuable deposits. Through a desired government commitment to improve mineral land monitoring and protection, let’s make BC the best place on earth to explore for, invest in, and develop new mines that we can all benefit from and be proud of.
We cannot afford to rest on our laurels and hope that economic prosperity will somehow magically appear. Undeniably, there are often land use challenges to overcome, but let’s develop clever solutions and not lose sight of the enormous opportunity and benefits that a mineral discovery can provide to all of our communities.
Gavin C. Dirom is the President & CEO of the Association for Mineral Exploration BC (AME BC)
From January 18 - 21, almost 6,000 delegates from over 40 countries are expected to attend Mineral Exploration Roundup 2010, AME BC’s 27th annual conference to be held in Vancouver.
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