Mining has been a fundamental part of Ontario’s economic fabric for centuries and is now seen as an integral component of its future. Ontario’s native population is widely credited with being the first to tap into the province’s mineral wealth, while major discoveries and mine development in the 20th century helped to underpin Ontario's rise to the status of Canada's most populous and wealthiest province, and supported Canada's development as an industrialised and globally competitive nation.
Today, mining in Ontario is a multi-million dollar industry with a total of 38 mine sites operating throughout the province, which collectively are bringing to the surface a range of metals and minerals including nickel, gold, copper, zinc, platinum, salt, calcium carbonate, gypsum, talc, and since 2008 diamonds.
A key contributor to Ontario’s economy as well as being an engine for regional development, mining in the province produces revenues of around $10 billion per year on average. Furthermore, given that 90 percent of the inputs to production are Canadian and 75 percent of mineral output is exported to markets in the United States, Europe and Asia, the industry also contributes immensely to improving Ontario's international balance of trade.
Established in 1920, the Ontario Mining Association (OMA) is the body tasked with representing the mining industry of the province and is one of the longest serving trade organisations in Canada. While a great deal has changed in the 90 plus years since its founding, the fundamental mission of the OMA remains the same and that is to improve the competitiveness of the industry while consistently promoting safety and sustainability.
By maintaining its core commitment to these ideals the OMA has helped create a mining jurisdiction revered for being one of the safest in the world. Indeed, over past 30 years the sector’s lost time injury frequency has improved by 90 percent and it is now at a level of 0.5 per 200,000 employee hours.
The OMA puts its success in advocating for industry advancement down to its ability to harness the collective strength its highly engaged members. It is proud to serve as a focal point for discussions on the issues and opportunities facing the mining community and to offer its members a unified voice on matters of public policy and opinion.
A goal of the association is to overcome the challenges that impede the competiveness of responsible operations and to foster an environment that bolsters mining's potential to be the cornerstone of Ontario's new, innovation-oriented green economy. With this goal in mind, the OMA offers its members support in a number of areas such as navigating the provincial policy network, gaining valuable insights and building important relationships by joining OMA committees and developing industry positions, strategies and initiatives and helping to shape legislation, policies, guidelines and best practices.
Further OMA support comes in the form of coordinating industry initiatives and offering opportunities for expert practitioners to collaborate on innovative solutions, networking with industry colleagues, non-governmental organisations, communities of interest, civil servants and elected officials, furthering public awareness and support of the mining industry and delivering innovative communications programs, and of course, championing the long-term viability of the industry.
One of the things the OMA has always been keen to highlight is the fact that the impact of mining goes far beyond mineral extraction and processing, with it being linked to many other industries and sectors in the economy, including transportation, construction, equipment manufacturing, environmental management, geological services, education and research. It also provides a major boost to the region’s financial sector, what with the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) being the leading global mining exchange, listing more of the world's public mining companies and raising more mining equity capital than any other.
A recent study by the University of Toronto, commissioned by the OMA, highlighted the fact that the benefits from opening a single new mine include millions of dollars of tax revenue for government and the creation of a number of highly skilled, high paying jobs. These benefits are shown to be worth $277.8 million per annum in direct, indirect and induced benefits; 2,280 employment-years of direct, indirect and induced opportunities; and $83.8 million in taxes to all levels of government each year.
Meanwhile, the construction and building phase of one mine has the potential to increase GDP by $130 million and to offer as many as 2,000 employment opportunities. Further economic gains can also be made through the construction of infrastructure to support the opening, operation, closing and rehabilitation of said mine.
In 2009 the value of mineral production in Ontario was recorded as $6.3 billion. This increased to $7.7 billion in 2010 and again to $10.7 billion in 2011, before coming in at $9.2 billion in 2012, despite global economic uncertainty and weakened demand for commodities. The financial year of 2011 also saw $1 billion invested in mineral exploration and deposit appraisal, the highest level ever achieved. With a multitude of opportunities yet to be explored across the province and an increase in activity expected with the demand for commodities slowly increasing, expect this record level to be broken again in the not-too-distant future.
Written by Will Daynes, research by Peter Rowlston
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