Mining succeeds despite burdens being placed on it

To anyone who has never lived in the north, the importance of mining may not be readily apparent. There are no well-publicized statistics on the role mining plays in the economies of northern areas of Ontario and Quebec, no slick public relations effort for life north of the French River. Even a traveller through the north would hardly notice any evidence of mining until, perhaps, the stretch of Highway 117 in Quebec from Val d’Or to Rouyn- Noranda or a brief look at the country’s three biggest gold mines alongside the Trans-Canada Highway near Marathon, Ont. Even Sudbury, the quintessential Canadian mining community, has become so diversified that mining’s profile, while still prominent, is retreating into the background. But to those who know the north, mining along with forestry is still the economic lifeblood for thousands of families in hundreds of communities spread throughout vast areas that outsiders can seldom comprehend.

Today, those communities and the people who call them home face a difficult future. Worries for the industry don’t arise from low commodity prices, a lack of favorable geology or the ability to find and mine mineral resources. In fact, metal prices are strong, the Canadian Shield’s mineral bounty is far from exhausted and the expertise of miners from Chibougamau to Pickle Lake is unrivalled in the world.

What threatens this industry is a society that fails to recognize the importance of minerals in the twentieth century and government policies that seem bent on ignoring our resource-based strengths in favor of industries that have been successful elsewhere in the world.

Changes in the federal tax regime have already reduced mineral exploration activity to a fraction of what it was just five years ago, and exploration is the key to mining in the future. At current levels of exploration, the federal government itself calculates that ore reserves are doomed to be decline as we approach the twenty-first century.

In Ontario, the recent election of an NDP government has made mining companies nervous about increased tax burdens that could spell the difference between operating or shutting down. Quebec’s most recent provincial budget saw several measures to increase the tax burden on mining and exploration.

In the background is an economy in recession and a stock market that seems unable to get back on its feet after the devastating loss of confidence following the 1987 market crash.

But despite the currents of fiscal neglect, environmental regulation and economic weakness running against the industry, mining in northern Ontario and Quebec continues to make headway and demonstrate that it is still a world leader. New mines continue to open — at Pickle Lake, at Rouyn, even at Sudbury.

New exploration techniques and hypotheses have led to several “blind” discoveries (deposits that do not outcrop at surface and therefore cannot be detected through conventional prospecting techniques). Witness the Aur-Louvem polymetallic find at Val d’Or and Minnova’s success at Winston Lake near Schreiber, Ont.

At Kirkland Lake, LAC Mineral’s Macassa gold mine is setting new production records proving that the old can still contribute.

And for those who say all the “easy” discoveries have been made, Hemlo indicates that other major deposits may just be waiting by the side of the road.

All the ingredients for the continuing success of mining in northern Ontario and Quebec are there. The greatest danger facing the industry comes from the very people in non-mining areas who benefit from it and threaten to kill the goose that is still laying golden eggs.