The fuTure of meTals

There’s more to metals than you think!

how canada is leading the way

AN iNdepeNdeNt SUppLeMeNt froM MediApLANet to tHe NAtioNAL poSt

evolution and innovationfilling the need for Canadian metals

future growthexpanding our horizons on metals

October 2012

00StepS/tipS

abOut hOw the metalS induStry influenceS yOur

daily life

3factS

AN iNdepeNdeNt SUppLeMeNt by MediApLANet to tHe NAtioNAL poSt2 · oCtober 2012

challenges

The future of metals in canada

Numbers don’t lie, and they go a long way in underscoring the important role that the mining and mineral exploration industry will play in canada’s future prosperity.

mo r e t h a n 300,000 Can-adians earn a living work-ing in the industry, and their com-

bined efforts account for roughly 3.5 percent of the country’s GDP — or about $35 billion in productivity — while also contributing $5.5 bil-lion to our provincial and federal governments in the form of taxes and royalties. Impressive numbers when you consider the numerous challenges and hardships that so many industries and world econ-omies have endured since the start of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008.

Yet despite the industry’s abil-ity to prosper in such a volatile environment, there are a number of formidable challenges on our radar that need immediate atten-tion if Canada’s mining and min-eral exploration industry is to remain one of the country’s eco-nomic engines, and a global leader.

ensuring future growth and prosperityFrom access to land and capital, to the challenges Canadian com-panies encounter when operating abroad, as well as the need to cut

costs in the face of market uncer-tainty, every type of outfit — from small junior businesses to the majors — are closely monitoring where their next investment dol-lar is coming from and what they will do with it.

To assist companies in their cur-rent activities, and to get new pro-jects off the ground, the Prospect-ors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) and other provin-cial and federal groups continue to lobby for the yearly renewal of the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit (METC). The credit was was created 12 years ago to help companies raise capital by providing incen-tives to individuals who invest in flow-through shares issued to finance mineral exploration. The continual extension of the METC goes a long way in keeping explor-ation dollars in Canada — dollars that greatly benefit northern and rural communities where the majority of mineral exploration and mining takes place.

the need for talentAnother key to growth is attracting and retaining new talent in the industry. And it is no secret that we are facing a massive labour short-age. In the next decade, according to the Mining Industry Human

Resource Council (MiHR), the sector will require an estimated 112,000 new workers to keep pace with the continual growth of the industry and the number of workers eligible for retirement.

One way to draw talent is to educate young Canadians about the numerous opportunities available to them. The PDAC does this through its Mining Mat-ters program, which since 1997 has delivered earth sciences and

career-orientated mining pro-grams to more than 450,000 high-school students, and by hosting a two-week Student Industry Mineral Exploration Workshop (S-IMEW) each May in Sudbury for post-graduate students.

Such initiatives complement the growing number of pro-grams springing up at univer-sities across the country, such as York University’s brand new MBA specialization in mining, that provide more avenues for new talent and skill sets to enter the sector.

Expanding and promoting such programs is imperative to the sur-vival and growth of the industry, and to the future prosperity of all Canadians. I hope this special pub-lication provides you with some insight into the challenges our industry faces, and just how pas-sionately the women and men of our profession work every day to enhance the social and economic fabric of this great land.

ross Gallingerexecutive director, prospectors and developers Association of Canada (pdAC) Photo: tony makePeace

“As the demand for ‘smart devices’ and solar panels grows, thedemand for metals like graphite, lithium and other rare earth metalswill grow too.”

powering our love for “smart” devices

We recommend

pAge 4

more than just raw p. 5 material production everything needed to supply a mine can be found in Canada.

a science of exploration p. 7Learning to think outside of the box

Still today marine transport is an effi-cient and environmentally sound means of transporting goods. And it’s the mining industry that is fuel-ling much of the demand for ship-ping along Canada’s sea coast, rivers and lakes.

“We move a lot of mining commod-ities, such as zinc, copper concentrate and nickel,” says Blair McKeil, CEO of McKeil Marine, which has been in the shipping business for more than a half Century. “Our work in Labrador and the Arctic, in particular is growing with more mineral finds.”

natural highwaysIt’s not just the raw materials that McKeil transports from the mine for processing; they also ship all the equipment and materials needed to build the mine. In fact, McKeil

recently moved an entire smelter that was built in modules in the southern U.S to a remote location in Newfound-land. Given the cost of labour, lack of housing for workers and other resour-ces at the site, it made economic sense to build the smelter elsewhere and ship it.

“Waterways are nature’s natural highways,” says McKeil. “One barge would equal 300-500 trucks, and so when it comes to volume we can offer the best value, and it also makes sense from an environmental perspective. Think of all those trucks and the emis-sions, and wear on our road infrastruc-ture.” Additionally, one must consider the negative impact of road conges-tion and border delays that truck traffic brings.

A recent Transport Canada report estimates that shortsea shipping has removed 60,000 trucks from roads in Ontario and Quebec alone. And while rail can often be an efficient means of transporting large amounts of cargo, it can cost several times as much, per ton, as shipping by sea.

numerous marine solutionsMcKeil owns and operates a diverse and versatile fleet in excess of 20 tugs and 30 barges, including large ocean-going bar-ges that can carry up to 20,000 tons, and is one of eight similar companies in East-ern Canada offering this type of marine

transport. But suggesting that McKeil is just a shipping company would be to minimize their ability to provide a wide-range of innovative marine solutions for customers throughout the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence Seaway, East Coast and the Canadian Arctic.

“Marine transportation has a lot of benefits, but the biggest challenge we face is the lack of dredging in many of our ports, especially in the U.S., where a lot of money isn’t being spent on main-taining the infrastructure,” says McKeil. “In contrast, the St. Lawrence Seaway is aging, but they tend to keep it well maintained.”

McKeil is bullish about the com-pany’s future. It’s building 10 new ships, and while the mining side of the busi-ness is expected to be soft for the next couple of years, as some projects are on hold, consistent growth is expected long term. And as higher oil prices put the squeeze on other forms of transpor-tation, McKeil says that it makes marine transportation even more competitive.

canada’s waterways critical to metals and other natural resources developmentcanada’s waterways have always been used for trade. and no wonder, given the country has the longest coastline in the world.

KEN DONOHUE

editorial@mediaplanet.com

ROss GalliNGER

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tHe fUtUre of MetALS1St editioN, oCtober 2012

responsible for this issue:managing director: Joshua nageljoshua.nagel@mediaplanet.comdesigner: Laura Shawlaura.shaw@mediaplanet.com contributors: Jon G. Baird, Ken donohue, ross Gallinger, Tom Hynes, Shannon Katary, damien Lynch, nothern college Haileybury School of mines, melanie Sturk, Western University

photo credit: All images are from iStock.com unless otherwise accredited.

distributed within:national Post, ocToBer 2012This section was created by mediaplanet and did not involve the national Post or its editorial departments.

Mediaplanet’s business is to create new customers for our advertisers by providing readers with high quality editorial contentthat motivates them to act.

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Northern College’s Haileybury School of Mines has been in the business of training mining specialists for over 100 years and has set the standard for mining education in Canada and throughout the world. With that kind of experience backing them, our graduates are recognized and well-respected across the globe.

Our flexible programs prime stu-dents to succeed in mining and min-ing-related industries. Students bene-fit from training in state-of-the-art facilities with advanced equipment, being at the centre of all the action at the heart of the mining boom and our meaningful partnerships with industry leaders that translate into real career opportunities.

Variety of programsOur graduates leave our programs with a well-rounded skill set based on a foundation of theoretical under-standing and hands-on experience. Along with a full complement of trades and technology programming, Northern offers:

■■ Mining Engineering Technician (see website for details)

■■ Motive Power Technician – Heavy Equipment and Mechanical Techni-cian—Industrial Millwright with the co-op apprenticeship diploma option

■■ Instrumentation Engineering Technician

■■ Basic Underground Hard Rock Miner, Surface Miner and Surface Diamond Driller Assistant and Mill Process Operator Common Core pro-grams

To learn more about how a Northern College education can give you a com-petitive advantage for a prosperous career in the mining industry, visit northernc.on.ca.

ProGrAmS In mInInG

sOURcE: NORtHERN cOllEGE

HailEybURy scHOOl Of MiNEs

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blair mcKeil Ceo, McKeil Marine Limited

canada iS One Of the wOrld’S

leadinG prOducerS Of mineralS and

metalS

1fact

AN iNdepeNdeNt SUppLeMeNt by MediApLANet to tHe NAtioNAL poStAN iNdepeNdeNt SUppLeMeNt by MediApLANet to tHe NAtioNAL poSt oCtober 2012 · 3

challenges insighT

mAIn ImAGe : InFo coUrTeSy oF mABc, deSIGn: PeneLoPe GrAHAm

The products of mining go beyond energy and precious metals. This cross-section of a smartphone shows how the elements from underground surround you.

Buttons Petroleum products and plastics

screen silica, indium, tin

sPeaker iron oxide, strontium copper, ceramic clays

caPacitors tantalum manganese

Battery lithium, cobalt, silicon

case stainless steel, iron, chromium, carbon

circuit Boards silicon, copper, gold, silver, platinum, clays

AN iNdepeNdeNt SUppLeMeNt by MediApLANet to tHe NAtioNAL poSt4 · oCtober 2012

Society’s insatiable demand for the latest smart gadgets is also creating an appetite for raw materials like graphite.

Powering our love for “smart” devicesThe past five to six years has wit-nessed a seismic shift in consumer spending and living patterns — not only is our demand for connected devices like the smart phone and tablet growing, our use of solar pan-els, wind turbines, and even electric cars is also gaining ground.

Changing technology has created a demand for “new” raw materi-als for use in mobile energy appli-cations like lithium-ion (li-ion) batteries and fuel cells. Such raw materials are also required for solar technologies and semiconductor manufacturing; and as part of carbon additives for conductive coatings, plastics, and paints.

battery powered demandPrakash Hariharan, portfolio man-ager at Front Street Capital agrees that the past few years have seen a “cosmic change” in consumer pat-tern and behaviour. “As the demand for ‘smart devices’ and solar pan-els grows, the demand for metals like graphite, lithium and other rare earth metals will grow too, ” he emphasizes, adding that this growth does not include the projected growth in electric cars, with their specialty batteries.

Batteries are the fastest growing end use for graphite. Demand for

batteries (primarily nickel-metal-hydride and to a lesser extent Li-ion) caused a surged in graphite demand in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This was driven by port-able electronics such as the Sony walkman and power tools.

However, the rise of the Li-ion bat-tery (a type of rechargeable battery) has caused great excitement in the graphite industry in recent times. The good news for the graphite mining industry is that up to 10 times more graphite than lithium carbonate is needed in Li-ion batteries. Laptops, tablets, and smartphone products have also increased the demand for such batteries.

Hariharan believes this is only the

tip of the iceberg — electric vehicles will really drive graphite demand. “The electrification of vehicles has not taken off yet, but demand will grow. We just don’t know what con-sumer patterns will be like.”

Growing business opportunityAccording to the website of a pri-vately owned Canadian junior mining company, Mega Graphite Inc., the projected demand for nat-ural graphite increasingly places it in the category of a “critical strategic material” in the world’s resource supply. Current con-sumption is approximately 1.1 mil-lion metric tonnes per year. Mega Graphite says that the growth in traditional and high-technology sectors, particularly areas such as the use of lithium-ion batter-ies in electric and hybrid electric vehicles (EV and HEV) is expected to push this figure to well in excess of 1.5 million tonnes over the next five to 10 years.

Over the past two years China has dramatically increased its internal consumption of the metal and imposed restrictions

on all exports. This has created an opportunity for Canadian compan-ies like MEGA Graphite to offer global customers an alternate, cost-effective and secure supply of high-quality graphite.

Graphene, a super materialIn 2010, professors Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov won the Nobel prize for physics “for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene.” Graphene, a two-dimensional material, is a one atom thick plane of graph-ite. Graphite, three-dimensional material, is a stack of graphene planes sitting on top of each other. Heim and Novoselov’s experi-ments showed that grapheme, as a form of carbon, is not extremely thin, it is also incredibly strong.

“Optimists say we are entering a carbon age. Even pessimists argue only that the impact will be some-what less,” Geim was reported as saying. “I hope that graphene and other two-dimensional crystals will change everyday life as plas-tics did for humanity.”

cHArGInG oUr FUTUre

news

DaMiEN lyNcH

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FAcTS

graphite is a soft, crystallized form of carbon. According to the United States geological Survey (USgS), world production of natural graphite in 2008 was 1,110 thousand tonnes (kt), of which the following major exporters are: China (800 kt), india (130 kt) brazil (76 kt), North Korea (30 kt) and Canada (28 kt).

graphene, which occurs naturally in graphite, has unique physical properties and might be one of the strongest substances known; however, the process of separating it from graphite will require some technological development before it is economically feasible to use it in industrial processes, experts say.

“As the demand for ‘smart devices’ and solar panels grows, the demand for metals like graphite, lithium and other rare earth metals will grow too.”

prakash hariharanportfolio Manager, front Street Capital

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Powering our love for “smart” devices

insighT

tranSpOrtinG mininG materialS mcKeil’s deck barge the mm newfoundland transporting a module destined for the Vale project in long harbour newfoundland. Photo: mckeil marine limited

it is more than just about producing raw materialsborn to serve a strong and demanding domestic mining industry, canadian mining equipment and service providers offer high productivity, safe and environmentally sound solutions for a global industry.

Canada is one of the world’s lead-ing producers of minerals and met-als. The industry accounted for 21 percent of the value of Canadian goods exports in 2010. Exports of aluminum, copper, gold, iron and steel, iron ore, nickel, silver, uran-ium, zinc, diamonds, potash and coal ranged from $1.7 billion to $15.1 billion each.

mineral exploration leaderOf the $18.1 billion world expendi-tures for nonferrous metals exploration in 2011, Canada attracted 18 percent; more than any other country. In March of 2012 over 30,000 people attended the Prospectors and Developers Asso-ciation of Canada’s (PDAC) annual convention. They came from 120 countries to see how Canadians find mines.

Global reachThere are an estimated 10,000 Can-adian mineral exploration, mine

development and mining operations in the world, of which only half are in Canada. The other 5,000 projects are in more than 100 countries.

challenging conditionsCanadian mines are located in some of the most challenging situ-ations on earth, such as the Arctic. Some extend under the sea; some are large tonnage open pits while underground mines range from narrow vein deposits to bulk cav-ing operations.

innovatorsCanadian exploration companies, mining corporations, universities, government and private research centres and suppliers to the min-ing industry all work to innovate to enhance productivity, health and safety and environmental per-formance. Canadian mining and metals companies alone invested $548 million in research and development in 2010, employing 8,400 R&D workers.

mining financiersToronto is a global hub for min-ing finance. In fact, the Toronto Stock Exchange lists 58 percent of the world’s public mining com-panies and handled 83 percent of the world’s mining equity trans-actions in the past five years.

canada as a mining hubWith such a high level of finan-cing, management, exploration and production from so many different mines and ores for over more than a century, it stands to reason that Canada is home to highly competent companies that supply the mining industry. In fact, nearly everything that is needed to supply an efficient, safe and environmentally responsible modern mine can be sourced in Canada.

Given a large domestic market and low tariff protection since after the Second World War, Can-adian firms have had to compete with imported mining goods and

services. Thus, a Canadian supplier can compete with the best in the world. Domiciled in a developed country, Canadian mining suppli-ers have been able to develop or gain rapid access to advanced tech-nology, in order to ensure their competitiveness.

leaders in innovationIn addition, Canadian mining suppliers are highly innovative. A survey revealed that 13.3 per-cent of employees in the sampled companies “work in Canada on the development of new products and technologies for the mining industry, from pure research to production engineering”. Further,

9 percent of the employees of the surveyed firms work on commer-cializing these technologies.

Approximately 3,215 Canadian companies advertised their will-ingness to serve the mining indus-try in 2011. Some such firms pro-vide legal, financial, accounting, environmental and other exper-tise to the mining industry. Others offer a broad range of services and products for mineral exploration, extraction and mineral processing.

While statistics abound for the mining industry itself, the mining supply sector has been described by the Conference Board of Can-ada as a ‘hidden’ sector that is dif-ficult to measure. This is because many firms that supply the mining industry also serve other indus-tries, so that their mining-specific sales are difficult to track. On the other hand, estimates that have been made indicate that there are more than two indirect jobs in mining supply for every direct job in mining.

“Nearly everything that is needed to supply an efficient, safe and environmentally responsible modern mine can be sourced in Canada.”

Jon G. baird, b.Sc., p.eng.Managing director, Canadian Association of Mining equipment and Services for export (CAMeSe)

JON G. baiRD

editorial@mediaplanet.com

current technOlOGical

innOVatiOnS will Only driVe up demand fOr materialS liKe

Graphite

2fact

AN iNdepeNdeNt SUppLeMeNt by MediApLANet to tHe NAtioNAL poSt6 · oCtober 2012

panel of experTs

new GeneratiOn Of wOrKerS mihr is seeking aboriginal peoples, youth, women, new canadians, mature/transitioning workers, and persons with disabilities.

about cemiThe Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI) dir-ects and coordinates step-change research in the areas of exploration, deep mining, integrated mine engin-eering, environment and sustain-ability in the metal mining industry. With a senior team of best-in-class program directors that provide know-ledge and experience, CEMI sup-ports applied research that extends from engineering and geology to include biology, chemistry, mech-anical engineering, bio-chemistry and more. We recognize innovation as a three-phase process: research, development and implementation (R&D+I). With implementation we turn innovative ideas into best prac-tices. For more information visit www.miningexcellence.ca

CEMI’s integrated model of research, development and imple-mentation creates greater capacity for excellence in innovation and is designed to accelerate economic activity related to the mining indus-try. We do this by:

■■ Collaborating with major Can-adian and global mining companies, university researchers, research organizations, technical consultants, and innovative SME’s across Canada and in Australia, South Africa, Chile and the USA

■■ Facilitating industry-focused collaboration to advance research, development, implementation and evaluation of ideas that deliver innovative, comprehensive and cost-effective solutions

■■ Developing and nurturing future generations of researchers, industry leaders and highly qualified person-nel by providing training opportun-ities and in-field access to facilities

■■ Implementing sound business practices with a focus on accountabil-ity, efficiency and effectiveness

■■ Attracting patrons and project sponsors from the global mining industry and Ontario and Canadian government funding

ProFILe in the next decade,

the mininG induStry will

require 112,000 new wOrKerS

3fact

sHaNNON KataRy

editorial@mediaplanet.com

The Mining Industry Human Resource Council’s (MiHR) most recent report forecasts a need for 112,000 workers across the Canadian mining industry by the year 2021. Employers looking to address the shortage need to focus on the reten-tion of their existing workforce, sup-porting career awareness and work-force diversification.

“Diversity helps industry manage the skills shortage, but we also know that there is a strong business case for inclusion due to the innovative ideas and new perspectives on problem solving generated in diverse work-places” says Melanie Sturk, Director of Attraction, Retention and Transition at MiHR. Yet whilst many employers have made efforts to diversify their workforce, a deeper look at the statis-tics reveals that there is still much to be done.

what is being done?MiHR has been working with indus-try to address the skills shortage through the attraction, recruitment and retention of diverse talent groups. The recent Take Action for Diversity initiative assists employers in their efforts to attract and retain Aborig-inal peoples, youth, women, new

Canadians, mature/transitioning workers, and persons with disabilities.

The Take Action for Diversity research report can be accessed at www.mihr.ca, and provides a number of recommendations for employers who are creating their own diversity strategies. Another report entitled Lessons Learned: A Report on HR Components of Aboriginal Commun-ity and Mining Company Partnership Agreements is soon to be released and takes an in-depth look at what makes a successful partnership between mining companies and Aboriginal communities.

aboriginal inclusionMuch of the work being done by MiHR reflects the importance of Aboriginal inclusion in the sector. Aboriginal

peoples continue to play a critical role in addressing the skills shortages in mining and in turn mining offers career opportunities and economic development in remote regions. When looking at Aboriginal recruitment, one barrier identified by employers is a lack of education and skills required for immediate employment.

In response, MiHR has partnered with the Assembly of First Nations and other key players to develop Mining Essentials: A Work Readiness Train-ing Program for Aboriginal Peoples. The national program teaches work readiness skills the mining industry requires to be considered for an entry in the workforce.

Bob Mack, Vice President of Com-munity, Business Development and Employment Services at Northern

College explains that “the combina-tion of program content and enrich-ment activities provides students a complete overview of the range of opportunities available in min-ing and, more importantly, identi-fies what skills and credentials are required to access them”.

aboriginal mining education forumEmployers, educators or Aboriginal groups who are creating or executing a diversity strategy including can con-sider attending the Aboriginal Mining Education Forum on November 20th and 21st in Toronto.

The Forum will be a strategic networking event resulting in an improved understanding of the issues of Aboriginal education as it critically applies to human resources manage-ment in mining and mineral explora-tion and the economic development of Aboriginal (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) communities. Delegates can anticipate a collaborative experience, where ideas, information and con-tacts are shared.

Learn more about the AMEF and Mining Essentials at www.aboriginalmining.ca. Read MiHR’s reports on diversity at www.mihr.ca.

the new faces of the metals industrythe labour and skills shortage is now considered one of the most significant business risks for mining and metals, and will not be downgraded any time soon.

MElaNiE stURK

editorial@mediaplanet.com

Shannon Katarydirector of Marketing and Community relations, CeMi

“there is a strong business case for inclusion due to the innovative ideas and new perspectives … in diverse workplaces.”melanie Sturk

director of Attraction, retention and transition, Mining industry resource Council (MiHr)

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panel of experTs news

a science of exploration: how a foundation of knowledge creates better geologists

the need for innovation in canada’s metals industry

Geologists have a saying, “Rocks remember”. That’s why Western Uni-versity’s approach to Earth Sciences is fueled by the future but grounded in the past.

Over the past few decades, giant technological leaps in geology have led to awesome discoveries in the fields of mining, climate change, and planetary science, but without knowing how a rock physically forms, looks and feels, none of it would have been possible.

creating a knowledge base“At Western, we offer students a trad-itional geology program with as much field-based components as we can,” says Norman Duke, an award-win-ning Western professor, who special-izes in economic geology. “Traditional exploration is becoming a lost art but you need to understand rocks and know how to identify them before you can make your mark in academics or industry.”

Duke says Western has stayed true to the core principles of Earth Sci-ences — the present is the key to the past (and the future). While many

other universities across North America have fully transitioned to promoting terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) technology as a primary tool, Western’s faculty, like Duke, believes a geologist must first rely on his or her own tools: hands, eyes and the mind.

“At the universities with [Earth Sciences] departments that have cheated on mineralogy, or the study of minerals, students come out weak in terms of their grasp of petrology, which is the basic understanding of how rocks form,” explains Duke. “Earth Sciences is a building block type of knowledge and Western is very good at offering that type of knowledge base.”

Duke recognizes and embraces the vast and varied impacts of the digital age, but he says Earth Sciences remains a science of exploration.

“There have certainly been inroads as one can do a lot of fancy scanning and modelling of geophysics so it can become a world of numbers. But at the end of the day, you need to know the kinds of rocks you’re looking at and what kind of processes went on to form those rocks,” explains Duke. “It’s not easily reduced to numbers. It’s more about recognition and history.”

beneficial partnerships Robert Linnen, the Robert Hodder Chair in Economic Geology, says that Western students have an incredible opportunity to broaden their educa-tion with industry partners during field placements, which occur after second, third and fourth year.

“Our partnerships with industry are a three-way street and everybody benefits,” explains Linnen. “Profes-sors find out what industry thinks is important. Industry gains access to cutting-edge research. They can share what their objectives are and what they want solved. And the students not only gain experience but they improve their future employability as they see first-hand how their research translates to industry.”

And it’s an industry, says Linnen, which goes beyond Canada’s three oceans.

“Our industry is an international industry. There are Canadian com-panies working in pretty well every country in the world,” he explains. “And natural resources and geol-ogy is geography-specific. There are mineral deposits in Canada that are very specific and entirely different than mineral deposits found in Peru

or South Africa. That’s why we look for partners and field placements in those countries and others like Brazil and Spain.”

breaking down barriersBeyond geographic borders, Western faculty and staff have eliminated bar-riers between sub-disciplines of Earth Sciences, such as economic geology, petroleum geology, geophysics and planetary sciences, offering students a more robust, all-encompassing experience for higher learning. This experience includes Western’s accel-erated (one-year) master’s program.

“We really encourage interdisci-plinary learning and thinking outside the box. That’s a cliché but we truly encourage people to get exposure to different aspects of Earth Sciences,” says Linnen. “This is education in general but ideally, we teach people how to think and how to learn so that when a new problem or opportun-ity arises, you have the toolset and capacity to tackle it head-on.”

mining is a key component of the canadian economy, directly employing over 300,000 people in jobs that pay above-average salaries.

The industry paid $8.4 billion in taxes and royalties in 2010, and it invests about $30 billion in capital projects annually. Its activities make substan-tial though not always visible contri-butions to other economic sectors in Canada, such as construction, finance and transportation. For instance, half of all rail traffic in Canada is for min-eral products. These direct and indirect benefits to our economic well-being would be very difficult to do without.

increase in pricesThe public has seen that metal prices, such as that of gold, have been quite high in recent years, but may be unaware that the costs of produc-tion have also increased dramatically. While Canadian mining is profitable

right now, its continued economic viability is not a sure thing. Canadian mining has to compete with mineral production from jurisdictions with lower wage rates, and lower environ-mental and safety standards.

We are also facing declining ore reserves (by more than half in recent years), and increasing logistical costs — our new deposits are deeper than ever, and further from existing infra-structure such as roads and power.

adapt and evolveOur continued prosperity will require that we find better and more economic ways to address our exploration, min-ing and mineral processing operations. Further improvements in safety and environment are also dependent on new methods and technologies.

Groups like the Canada Mining Innovation Council, and others, are helping address our research and innovation needs. Much work has been done, but much more remains to be done. This is a task that indus-try, academia and governments must share if we are to maintain the contributions of Canadian mining to our national prosperity and social well-being.

“earth Sciences is a building block type of knowledge and Western is very good at offering that type of knowledge base.”norman dukeprofessor, Western University

“We really encourage interdisciplinary learning and thinking outside the box.”robert linnen robert Hodder Chair, economic geology, Western University

sOURcE: wEstERN UNivERsity

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tOM HyNEs

ExEcUtivE DiREctOR,

caNaDa MiNiNG

iNNOvatiON cOUNcil

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the new faces of the metals industry

MElaNiE stURK

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eArTH ScIenceS

raiSinG priceSthere has been an increases in the prices of metal, but that also cor-responds to rais-ing costs in pro-duction.

Check out our upcoming reports!

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