Mining is one of the few industries which takes place in all parts of the province – from Red Lake to Perth and from Attawapiskat to Windsor. All of the province benefits from the social and economic contributions of the mining industry.

Mining today is a modern, safe, environmentally responsible, high-tech industry.

The mineral producing sector in Ontario employs more than 16,500 people directly. The minerals-producing and metals-fabricating sectors in Ontario employ another 180,000 people and it is estimated that the supply and service sector has another 14,000 jobs in Ontario supported by mining.

These are among the best paying jobs of any sector of Ontario’s economy. The average mining salary and benefits package is more than $95,000 annually.

More than 85% of the mining workforce uses advanced technology – advanced materials, telecommunications and electronics.

As a percentage of total employees, mining has 50% more people with PhDs than the manufacturing sector in Ontario.

The safety performance of the industry in Ontario is among the best in the world.

This safety performance has made a 90% improvement in the past two decades.

For 2004, the sector had a lost time injury frequency of 1.1 per 100 workers
For the first six months of 2005 that rate has been reduced to 0.8.

The value of Ontario’s mineral production in 2004 was a whopping $7.2 billion. Metallic minerals, including nickel, copper, gold, zinc, platinum and palladium accounted for $4.8 billion of the total. Non-metallic minerals such as cement, stone, sand and gravel, gypsum, and salt accounted for $2.4 billion.

Nickel, mined mostly in Sudbury, is Ontario’s most valuable mineral commodity, worth $2.1 billion in 2004. Gold came next at $1.2 billion, then copper at $660 million. Platinum group metals held fourth spot at $415 million.

Canada is the world’s third largest nickel producer, accounting for 15.7% of world production in 2001. We’re the third largest zinc producer, the fifth most important producer of lead and number six in copper.

The market capitalization of mining companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Toronto Venture Exchange is $139 billion.

On the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), mining companies represent 15% of the listed companies, 30% of the trading volume and 17% of the trading value.

Mining companies raised more than $4 billion in public offerings on the TSX in 2003.

The mining industry provides the foundation stones and the building blocks of our modern society.

The materials which are produced by the mining industry improve our lifestyles, enhance our environment and make us more energy efficient.

Advancements being made on everything from solar cars to energy efficient homes have their origins in mining.

For example, high quality calcium carbonate is used as filler in plastics, paints and papers, among other products.

Using calcium carbonate in these consumer and industrial products reduces the quantity of petrochemical feed stocks needed to make plastics and paints and the number of trees needed to make paper.

It also reduces the amount of energy needed to make these products.

Other industrial minerals mined in Ontario include gypsum, talc, silica and vermiculite.

Ontario is home to the world’s largest open pit palladium/platinum mine in the world. Its products are used in catalytic converters, which reduce pollution and emissions from combustion engines used in different modes of transportation.

Nickel is the key alloy ingredient which makes steel stainless. Stainless steel, in turn, is an important material in pollution prevention, medical and dental equipment.

You see lots of nickel used in smoke stack scrubbers, commercial kitchens throughout the food services industries and in hospital operating rooms. Your kitchen sink wouldn’t be nearly as nice without its nickel content.

Nickel was first discovered in the Sudbury area in 1856 and began being mined in 1886.

The Sudbury Basin was formed 1.8 billion years ago when a meteorite slammed into the Earth, cracking its shield and allowing mineral-rich magma to rise up, collect in pockets and eventually cool.

The Sudbury Basin has yielded more than 20 billion pounds of refined nickel and approximately the same volume of refined copper, plus an assortment of other minerals since mining began in the region over 100 years ago.

Canada produced 148 tonnes of gold in 2002, making us the eighth largest gold producing country in the world.

Canadian gold mining companies such as Barrick, Placer Dome and Kinross operate mines around the world.

The largest single gold mine in Canada, Goldcorp’s Red Lake Mine in northwestern Ontario, produced 16.5 tonnes of gold in 2003.

World gold production in 2002 was 2,587 tonnes.