Mining Industry in Canada

Supporting Canada’s Mining Families

We all depend on mining for countless products ranging from the mundane to the complicated. From salt and bicycles to computers and smartphones, minerals and metals are the building blocks of modern society. They are the key materials used to build our homes, manufacture our vehicles, medically treat patients, keep the lights on, and produce our food.

And in the process of extracting these important mining materials, Canada’s mining sector makes an oversized contribution to the lives of everyday Canadians by employing hundreds of thousands of workers, generating billions in tax revenues, and playing an irreplaceable role in our economy.

In other words, mining is one of Canada’s most important economic sectors. Our country’s rise as one of the world's wealthiest is partly thanks to significant discoveries and developments in the mining industry over the decades.

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Canada's Mining Industry

Plays a huge role in providing economic and employment opportunities for Canadian and Indigenous families from coast to coast. For example, the industry:

• Employs hundreds of thousands of workers
• Is the largest private-sector employer of Indigenous Peoples in Canada
• Is a major contributor to the Canadian economy, generating tens of billions of dollars in economic activity annually
• Is a major revenue-generating industry for municipal, provincial, and federal governments, adding billions of dollars to the public purse every year

The benefits of mining go well beyond mineral extraction and processing; it makes other industrial sectors possible such as transportation, construction, manufacturing, geological services and education, to name a few examples. The industry also provides a major boost to our financial sector; the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) is the leading global mining exchange, listing more of the world's public mining companies and raising more mining equity capital than any other like it.

Let’s not forget that mining is key to improving socio-economic circumstances and stimulating a diversified local economy that will flourish throughout the life of the mine and well beyond in countless communities, especially in rural areas across Canada. In addition to providing jobs and long-term careers for remote workers, mining companies invest in infrastructure, education, vocational training, healthcare, and cultural programs, helping build up the rural areas of our vast country.

Canadian Mining: Quick Facts

• Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction made up 8% of Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022 – valued at $161 billion ^[1]
• Since 2011, the sector has consistently accounted for anywhere between 7.2% and 8.2% of Canada’s GDP, showing its critical role in the national economy at large ^[1]
• As of 2022, the mining industry employed 694,000 people across the country, including 420,000 directly, and an additional 274,000 indirectly ^[1]
• At $139,217, the average annual total compensation in the mining industry is almost double the all-industry average of $72,641 ^[3]
• Canada was home to more than 200 operating mines in 2022, producing everything from diamonds to coal to iron ore ^[1]
• At present, from initial discovery to first production, the average mining project in Canada takes more than 17 years, a massive impediment to our nation’s ability to be a mining powerhouse the world the needs ^[1]

Mining in Daily Life: Examples

> The nanotechnology boom has opened up a new frontier of early disease detection, diagnosis and treatment. Gold nanoparticle technology is being used to target and deliver antibodies directly into cancerous tumours. Nanotech is also being engineered to attach to cancer-related proteins to aid in earlier detection.

> Mining makes our favourite devices possible. More than 40 mined metals and rare earths are used to produce a single smartphone.

> Mining keeps your electronics working. The appliances we use every day, everything from the refrigerator to the washer and dryer, require metals to function. Copper, for example, is used in plumbing, electrical wiring, industrial machinery, and construction materials.

> Made fresh in Canada, the agriculture and agri-food sector contributes over $140 billion annually to Canada’s economy, and the industry is responsible for the employment of 2.3 million Canadians. Farm fertilizers are a mix of phosphorus, nitrogen, potassium, sulphur and iron – all products of mining.

> Mining produces the metals needed for sports trophies across the world. The Stanley Cup, for example, was first awarded to the Montreal Hockey Club in 1893. The original Cup was made of silver, while the current Cup is made of a silver and nickel alloy. Meanwhile, hockey skates are typically made out of chromium, carbon and iron.

> Mining plays a vital role in preventing infectious disease. Increasingly, health facilities are using antimicrobial copper to prevent hospital-acquired infections. Surgical instruments, hospital beds, and heart rate monitors also exist thanks to mining.

> Mining makes space exploration and satellite technologies purposed for various functions possible. Without minerals and metals, we would be unable to explore new planets, and potentially one day colonize Mars or travel into outer space.

> Mining makes renewables such as solar and wind possible; the amount of minerals and metals required to produce energy technologies is immense.

Mining & Indigenous Peoples in Canada

Mining especially plays a critical role in northern and remote communities where it is one of the largest private-sector employers of Indigenous Peoples and a major partner with Indigenous businesses.

This can be partly attributed to the fact that roughly 1,200 Indigenous communities are within close proximity to mining operations ^[2]. This serves as a foundation for relationship building between the industry and First Nations. The mining sector:

• Proportionally, is the largest private sector employer of Indigenous people in Canada ^[1]
• More than 17,300 Indigenous people were employed in Canada’s mining and mineral processing industries as of the 2021 government census ^[3]
• About half of Indigenous employment was in the upstream mining subsector, where Indigenous people accounted for 11% of the industry’s labour force – more than double the all-industry average representation of 4% ^[3]
• Since 1974, more than 586 agreements for 385 exploration and mining projects have been signed between proponents and Indigenous communities in Canada ^[1]

Join Us Today!

Canada’s mining industry is an integral part of our economy and supports hundreds of thousands of families nationwide. We must ensure we take the necessary steps to cement Canada’s status as a global mining leader and that we continue to support this critical industry so that it can continue to create prosperity for all Canadians.

So let’s be proud of where Canada stands on the global scene as a top global mining country, and do everything we can to support our mining families and industry at large! Are you with us?

Northwestern Ontario lithium project could be 'robust' mine https://t.co/55KG9Kiv2D

— Canada Action (@CanadaAction) April 15, 2025

SOURCES:

_{1 - https://mining.ca/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2024/06/Facts-and-Figures-2023-FINAL-DIGITAL.pdf}

_{2 - https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/news/canadian-perspective-aboriginal-communities-will-ease-shortfall-of-trained-workers/}

_{3 - https://natural-resources.canada.ca/minerals-mining/mining-data-statistics-analysis/minerals-economy#indigenous}