Most
of British Columbia lies within the Western Cordillera, a geological
formation known to contain a wide variety of valuable minerals. The
complex geological history of BC has provided the province with a
rich and varied mineral endowment. Over the past three decades, mineral
products production, including oil and natural gas, have significantly
increased due to technological advances in exploration and mining
and new domestic and foreign markets.
British Columbia produces and exports copper, coal, gold, zinc, molybdenum,
silver, lead, and a growing variety of industrial and structural minerals.
Since 2001, a total of 12 metal and coal mines have opened or reopened in B.C.
The value of mineral sales in B.C. more than doubled over the last seven years reaching $6.6 billion in 2008, up from $2.9 billion in 2001, according to preliminary Stats Canada estimates.
Investment in mineral exploration was nearly $367 million in 2008, a 1,266 per cent increase over the 2001 investment level of $29 million.
There were 388 exploration stage projects for minerals, coal, industrial minerals and aggregates throughout B.C. in 2008.
The number of exploration projects with budgets in excess of $1 million was 98 in 2008, carried out by 770 publicly listed B.C. companies.
Sixty per cent of Canadian exploration companies are based in B.C., raising $2.9 billion in equity capital for mining and exploration in 2008.
In 2008, there were 10 metal mines, nine coal mines, and over 35 major industrial minerals quarries and mines in operation providing employment for B.C. workers.
In 2008, a total of 28,000 people were employed in the mining and minerals sector in over 50 B.C. communities: approximately 14,000 directly and several thousand additional jobs in the service sector that rely on exploration and the mining industry.
Each British Columbian requires an average of 12 tonnes of aggregate per capita per year for housing, roads, schools, shopping centres, hospitals and libraries.
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