COMMENTARY — Cities fuel mining industry

Last May, Mining Works for Canada and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE) presented Peter Munk, president of Barrick Gold, with an award for Lifetime Achievement in Mining Finance and celebrated Toronto’s position as the mining finance capital of the world. The day was proclaimed Mining Works For Toronto Day by mayor Mel Lastman, and the celebration at the TSE indicated the tremendous impact mining has on the lives of those who live and work in the city.

But Toronto isn’t the only major Canadian city that reaps the advantages of mining. Home to an unparalleled depth and breadth of mining expertise, Vancouver is a global centre for exploration. In a five-block area in the downtown business section, more minerals-consulting expertise exists than in any other city in the world. In fact, more than 1,250 businesses directly related to the mining industry have offices throughout the Vancouver area.

The industry plays a different, though equally important, role in Montreal, a centre for mining research. Home to Canada’s largest metallurgical-materials graduate school, North America’s longest-running mining studies program and the Canadian Centre for Mining Automation and Robotics, McGill University is world-renowned for mining-related research and development. Across the city, Ecole Polytechnique offers, with McGill, an innovative bilingual co-op mining program that boasts a 100% placement rate. Montreal is also home to the award-winning Noranda Technology Centre. Employing more than 150 scientists and technicians, the NTC is world-renowned for its achievements.

From finance to exploration, to research and development, Canada’s three largest cities are recognized around the world for their mining expertise. But mining brings a lot more than global recognition to our major cities. The mining-related activities provide thousands of jobs to a various sectors, which translates into hundreds of millions of dollars in salaries and investment in each city. Additionally, the mix of high-level skills required to service the industry in the cities has resulted in a cross-fertilization that has given many other sectors a globally competitive advantage.

— The author is president of Quebec Cartier Mining. He wrote this column at the request of Mining Works for Canada, an organization designed to increase awareness of the importance of mining in this country.