Missed a record by that much
Mining is back.
After years of lower spending on exploration by mining companies, 2021 saw $660 million spent looking for minerals.
That misses the record of $680 million set in 2012, according to the BC Geological Survey.
Much of that was spent on advanced exploration as many companies are riding high commodity prices.
In 2021, mining companies made an estimated $7.3 billion, up $5.3 billion from the year before.
Part of that comes from strong prices for many commodities, including metallurgical coal, which spent a part of the year at record high rates, climbing above $400 USD in December.
Prices are still strong, sitting at close to $350 USD, which has led to local company Conuma striving to streamline its process and increase production while prices are high.
And it’s not just coal. At the end of 2021, Australia’s Newcrest Mining, purchased Pretivm Resources for $2.8 billion.
Pretivm owned Brucejack mine, one of the highest grade gold mines in the world. The 1200 square kilometre property is near Red Chris (copper and gold), Eskay Creek (gold) and Snip Mine (gold).
That mine came on stream in 2017 and had a few rocky years before hitting pay dirt in 2021, when new reserves were discovered.
And with strong demand for minerals to use in electronics and the high tech sector, mineral exploration has moved beyond the traditional—copper, gold and metallurgical coal—into nickel (a known commodity in the province) and rare earth metals (which are not).
Defense Metals is investigating a deposit in the Wicheeda area, 80 km northeast of Prince George.
The latter is most interesting, and the company has been making a strong case for going ahead with the mine, including estimated revenues of $397 million per year.
Rare earth metals are used in the production of many high tech devices like cell phones and televisions. Much of the current supply for Rare earth metals comes from China.
Moving mining into the future
For more than 150 years, mining has been one of the key drivers of the BC economy.
It has a long, storied tradition, but it is not perfect. 100 years ago, the environmental impact of mining was barely considered. Even 50 years ago, mines were not held to as high a standard as they are today.
But, as knowledge of the impact of mining grows, steps are taken—both by the company and by regulators—to lessen that impact. Is mining perfect? Far from it. But according to the Mining Association of BC (MABC), our mines are taking a global leadership role in transitioning to a cleaner low-carbon future; responsibly, sustainably and safely.
BC mines have a lower greenhouse gas intensity than most of our global competitors and our products are essential to the transition to a low carbon economy. Mining is fundamental to a strong, sustainable BC economy and has become an increasingly high-tech and data-driven industry.
In 2018, BC’s mines and smelters spent $2.9 billion purchasing materials, goods and services from more than 3,700 businesses located in 215 BC municipalities, communities or Indigenous nations.
There are 17 mines in the province and two smelters. These mines support 3730 Mining suppliers in 215 Communities across the province, including right here in Tumbler Ridge, bringing $2.9 Billion into these local economies.
And while we think of mining as something that happens in remote rural communities, one third of that—almost $1 Billion—went to companies in Vancouver, creating not only jobs in the north, but in the south as well.
In Tumbler Ridge, $14,074,000 was brought into the community in 2018 by 40 companies working in the mining industry.
“BC miners have a long history of adopting innovative mining methods and new technologies that have changed mining in BC, and around the world,” say the MABC. “Today’s mining industry embraces science and engineering, including state of-the-art solutions like artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, 3D technologies, robotics and electrification.”
The digital transformation is enhancing safety, sustainability, productivity, and enabling the development of smart mining.
What is a smart mine? It is a mine that uses data from sensor technology to effectively manage underground and pit mining operations. Mukani Moyo, a Senior Expert at McKinsey says “Any mining operation today will have in the thousands or hundreds of thousands of sensors capturing in real time a vast swath of data.”
These days, supervisors at mine sites can now receive alerts via SMS, email or in-app notifications. This helps them react to critical problems in real-time and maximize productivity.
In addition, advanced data analytics can be applied to the raw data to create insights, visualizations, and recommendations. This information is delivered to mine managers and employees in real-time on their mobile devices.
It can also mean remote working for mine, which can lead to safer, less stressful mines. Mining in remote locations can be difficult as workers must fly in and fly out. These days, mine employees and managers can monitor operations at a distant office. While there will always be a need for workers on site, connected technology can move some of the jobs, helping workers remain in their own communities.
And, as time goes by, new technologies will help develop new, greener, more sustainable and safer mining operations.
“By minimizing their negative impacts, mining companies will be able to responsibly deliver the materials the modern world needs,” says MABC.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
