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Mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...
has been conducted on an industrial scale in present-day
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
since the late 18th century. The industry remains an important aspect of the
economy of Canada The economy of Canada is a Developed country, highly developed mixed economy. It is the world's List of countries by GDP (nominal), ninth-largest with a nominal GDP of approximately . Canada is one of the world's largest trading nations, with a ...
to this day, particularly in the
North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...
, and Canadian-domiciled mining companies have increasingly expanded their operations globally.


History

The history of mining in Canada goes back to the 16th century. In the 1570s, Martin Frobisher briefly attempted a mining operation on
Baffin Island Baffin Island (formerly Baffin Land), in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada, the second-largest island in the Americas (behind Greenland), and the fifth-largest island in the world. Its area is (slightly smal ...
, although it was unsuccessful. In 1672, French settlers in
Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...
detected
coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...
deposits. Matonabbee and Samuel Hearne sought after
copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...
in the
Hudson Bay Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...
region in the 1770s. The first truly industrial mining operation in what is now Canada was an
iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...
mine at Forges du Saint-Maurice near
Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, ; ) is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...
in Quebec, which remained a going concern from 1738 to 1883.
Copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...
mining in Bruce Mines, Ontario—the first industrial-scale mine of a substance other than iron—followed in 1848. The Canadian mining industry continued to expand nationwide through the 19th century, and became one of the world's largest by the 20th century, particularly following
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Mills and Sweeney note that the staples thesis, which posits that the Canadian economy has developed primarily through the exploitation of the country's abundant natural resources, remains a viable model of Canadian
political economy Political or comparative economy is a branch of political science and economics studying economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and national economies) and their governance by political systems (e.g. law, institutions, and government). Wi ...
.


Operations

In 2019, Canada was the 4th largest producer of
platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...
; the world's 5th largest producer of
gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
; the world's 5th largest producer of
nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...
; the world's 10th largest producer of
copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...
; the 8th largest world producer of
iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...
; the 4th largest world producer of
titanium Titanium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...
; the world's largest producer of
potash Potash ( ) includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water- soluble form.
; the 2nd largest world producer of
niobium Niobium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Nb (formerly columbium, Cb) and atomic number 41. It is a light grey, crystalline, and Ductility, ductile transition metal. Pure niobium has a Mohs scale of mineral hardness, Mohs h ...
; the 4th largest world producer of
sulfur Sulfur ( American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur ( Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms ...
; the world's 7th largest producer of
molybdenum Molybdenum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mo (from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'') and atomic number 42. The name derived from Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lead ores. Molybdenum minerals hav ...
; the 7th worldwide producer of
cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. ...
; the 8th largest world producer of
lithium Lithium (from , , ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard temperature and pressure, standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the ...
; the 8th largest world producer of
zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...
; the 13th largest world producer of
gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate Hydrate, dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, drywall and blackboard or sidewalk ...
; the 14th worldwide producer of
antimony Antimony is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Sb () and atomic number 51. A lustrous grey metal or metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite (). Antimony compounds have been known since ancient t ...
; the world's 10th largest producer of
graphite Graphite () is a Crystallinity, crystalline allotrope (form) of the element carbon. It consists of many stacked Layered materials, layers of graphene, typically in excess of hundreds of layers. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable ...
; in addition to being the 6th largest world producer of
salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...
. It was the 2nd largest producer in the world of
uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...
in 2018.


Economic impact


Domestic

Mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...
is a significant part of the
economy of Canada The economy of Canada is a Developed country, highly developed mixed economy. It is the world's List of countries by GDP (nominal), ninth-largest with a nominal GDP of approximately . Canada is one of the world's largest trading nations, with a ...
. , mining revenues totalled  billion. In 2013, over 50% of the world's publicly listed exploration and mining companies were headquartered in Canada.
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
is a financial centre for the
mining industry Mining is the extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agricultural processes, or feasibly created artificially in a la ...
: as of 2016, around 80 percent of the world's equity trades in mining stocks took place in Toronto's markets. In 2021, Canada's GDP totaled to CA$1.8 trillion across all industries. $156.5 billion of this (7.9%) is due to mining. Mining's contribution to Canada's GDP is separated into extraction ($36.1 billion), services ($12 billion), primary manufacturing ($17.7 billion), and downstream manufacturing ($25 billion). The Canadian mining industry has experienced significant volatility in recent history. The 1980s and 1990s saw a "prolonged slump" in Canadian mining, whereas the 2000s and 2010s were largely boom periods.
Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...
alone produces approximately 15 percent of the world's
uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...
. The metal was first discovered in the province in the 1930s, and had become Canada's most valuable resource export by the 1950s. In
Northern Canada Northern Canada (), colloquially the North or the Territories, is the vast northernmost region of Canada, variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three Provinces_and_territories_of_Canada#Territories, terr ...
, mining—particularly hardrock mining—has long been one of the most significant sources of economic development. Canada taxes mining companies at a relatively low level by international standards. Alam identifies this as one way Canada has established itself an attractive place for mining companies to do business.


International

International expansion of the domestic mining industry has been championed by the government of Canada, and one scholar describes Canadian mining operations as having "developed an extensive and indeed dominant global presence". Canadian mining investment abroad has been particularly significant in Latin America and African countries.


See also

* Coal mining in Saskatchewan * Gold mining in Canada *
Lists of mines in Canada The following lists of mines in Canada are subsidiaries to the list of mines article and lists working, defunct and future mines in the country and is organised by the primary mineral output and province. For practical purposes stone, marble and ot ...
* Uranium mining in Canada * Canadian mining in Latin America and the Caribbean


References


Sources

* * * * * * *{{Cite journal, last=Seck, first=Sarah L., date=2011, title=Canadian Mining Internationally and the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights, url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/cybil49&i=63, journal=Canadian Yearbook of International Law, volume=49, pages=51–116, doi=10.1017/S0069005800010328, s2cid=155412368, via=
HeinOnline HeinOnline (HOL) is a commercial internet database service launched in 2000 by William S. Hein & Co. (WSH Co), a Buffalo, New York publisher specializing in legal materials. The company was founded in Buffalo, New York, in 1961, and is currently ...
, url-access=subscription Economy of Canada