For years, there has been a steady increase in global budgets for non-ferrous metals exploration costs. The two North American countries Canada and the USA regularly account for the highest exploration costs. Reason enough to take a closer look at the mining industry in Canada.
Rising exploration budgets
Annual exploration budgets for non-ferrous metals have been rising steadily for years. An analysis of the investments of a total of 1651 mining companies by S&P Global clearly shows that the continuous increase in exploration costs is mainly triggered by the so-called battery metals as well as the high demand for base metals such as copper and zinc and the high demand for gold.
In recent years, Canada has always been among the countries with the highest investment budget.
Canada’s most important raw materials
Gold, diamonds, nickel and copper are of particular importance to the Canadian mining industry.
In 2020, Canada was the world’s fifth-largest gold producer after China, Australia, Russia and the U.S., with about 170 tons of gold. This means that gold production in Canada has increased by almost 80 percent within the last 10 years.
In terms of copper production, Canada ranks only 11th in the ranking of the world’s largest producing countries, with around 570 tons. The most important Canadian copper producers are Vale Canada and Teck.
Vale Canada is also considered the country’s main nickel producer, while Dominion Diamond Corporation is the main diamond mining company.
Among both the world’s major nickel producers and the largest diamond producing countries, Canada ranks 5th in the world.
Gold mining in Canada
The largest quantities of gold are mined in the Canadian provinces of Ontario, followed by Quebec and British Columbia. The country’s most important and largest gold mines include the Medowbank, Goldex, La Ronde, Canadian Malartic, and Lapa gold mines. In addition, there are some highly developable gold mining projects at the Amaruq and Meliadine mines.
According to an estimate by analysts from the British research group Wood Mackenzie, Canada could rise as high as 2nd place in the ranking of the largest gold-producing countries in the next 5 years due to the many new mining projects in the country.
Already today, some 50 gold mining companies are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Major Canadian companies include Agnico Eagle, Barrick Gold, Yamama Gold, Kirkland Lake Gold and Goldcorp.
In addition to the large, internationally active and well-known companies, there are many smaller companies and junior miners in Canada. These include, for example, Alamos Gold, Atlantic Gold Corp, Detour Gold, First Mining Gold, IDM Mining, Marathon Gold, Newgold, Richmond Mines, TMAC Resources, Victoria Gold and Wesdome Gold.
