EDITORIAL PAGE Guest Column – Mining is engine that drives

The health of our economy in the north has been and will continue to be directly related to the number of mines and processing facilities in the area. The city fathers of Timmins, Ont., have recognized this for many years, as indicated by The Royal Commission on the Northern Environment. “Timmins, like most of its neighboring communities from Georgian Bay to Hudson Bay, was developed by mining and lumbering,” reports the commission. “It will die without them . . . Mining and lumbering are the past and present bases of prosperity. Gold is the historic reason for the City’s growth . . . with the current increase in the price of gold on the open market, there is an unlimited potential for future development in this field in the near future.” We, as an industry, see little reason for this view to change. The contributions of mining to our local, regional and national economy has been nothing short of phenomenal. Consider these facts. The Hollinger mine provided continuous employment for 3,000 people from 1910 to 1968 on a yearly average. That equates to 174,000 man-years of work. In addition, Dome Mines has provided continuous employment from 1910 to the present, giving jobs to 600 men on the average over this period, equating to 48,600 man-years of work. In some instances several generations of the same family have worked at the same mine. The Kidd Creek mine, now owned by Falconbridge Ltd., since 1964 has provided continuous employment for 2,500 people on the average, equating to 60,000 man-years and spent about $1 billion on mine and processing plant development. Supply and service firms have benefited to the tune of $216 million. Local taxes paid amount to $7.8 million per annum. Additionally, millions of dollars are left in the local economy annually through supply and service industries to say nothing of the amounts added to the local tax base, without which many of the fine community facilities Timmins enjoys would not be possible. Personnel of outside supply and service firms are continually passing through the area and they contribute through their use of local hotels, restaurants and other local services. Another contribution often overlooked by many is the monies brought into a community by those exploring for mines. In the northeast part of the province considerable dollars were spent in mineral exploration, much of which was left in the local economy through wages for those living in the area and locally purchased supplies and services. Given that mineral exploration alone provides as many benefits to northeastern Ontario as tourism, it is vitally important that all levels of government encourage exploration with the same vigor with which they promote tourism. The benefits of a mineral discovery that may result from these efforts can be attested to by the quoted figures. Few industries, even those in which developments are centred around a renewable resource, can claim to match the contributions of mining. In these times of worldwide economic uncertainty there are governments, even those with serious debt, competing with one another to provide all sorts of incentives for manufacturing companies to locate in their jurisdiction with no job guarantees for any substantial period of time. It is far easier to shut down a plant and move it to a new locale than to move an orebody. Because of the far-reaching impact of a mineral discovery it takes little imagination to appreciate why a new mineral discovery creates so much excitement and optimism and why they are reported by all forms of news media around the world. The enormous challenge goes out to anyone who can come up with an industry to replace mining in northern Ontario and still provide the same net benefits to all parties concerned. David Meunier, a graduate of the Haileybury School of Mines, is an independent prospector living in South Porcupine, Ont.