Quebec mining. Stornoway mentionedMONTREAL -- Stung by controversy over a uranium project on Quebec'sNorth Shore and an unflattering report from the province's auditorgeneral, Quebec's mining industry is now trying to set the recordstraight with a new study that says the sector will contributesignificantly to the economic recovery.
About $4-billionworth of mining investment projects have been announced and should getoff the ground before 2013, officials with the industry's two largesttrade groups told reporters on Monday. Since 2000, exploration activityalone has increased on average by 65% a year, reaching $440-million in2008.
"I don't think this is a political game," Associationminière du Québec chairman Michel Leclerc said when asked if the studyincreases the industry's sway among lawmakers. "We simply want to showto the people who we are as a group. Because obviously we didn't know.Six months ago, we didn't know [these] numbers."
He saidwhile residents of outlying areas such as Abitibi are moreknowledgeable about mining companies and their activity, "there is aperception we have to change" among people in larger cities.
Quebec'smineral industry generates 2.4% of the province's gross domesticproduct and 52,000 jobs, the study concludes. It has contributed$281-million a year on average since 2000 to the provincial treasury intaxes. Ten new mining projects, nine worth $200-million each, willstart this year.
The study is the first to measure theentire value of mining activity, from exploration to initialtransformation. It found that Quebec's mining suppliers, whomanufacture ventilation systems and other products, have generated asub-industry in their own right, more than doubling their exports overeight years to $196-million in 2008.
The findings come oneyear after a hard-hitting report by Quebec's auditor general noted theprovince collects little in royalties from mining companies. The Quebecgovernment moved in its latest budget to address that situation,raising mining duties to 16% by 2012 and switching to a "mine-by-mine"system of taxation, which means companies will no longer be able toapply the losses at one mine to lower the profits of another.
Morerecently, a public outcry hitting the industry erupted late last yearafter 20 doctors quit at a regional hospital in Sept-Iles to protestplans to build a uranium mine nearby. The doctors said they feared forthe health of their families and the region's populace. Vancouver-basedTerra Ventures Inc. froze its exploration of the site in December.
Quebecproduces some 30 minerals, including gold, silver, copper and zinc.Stornoway Diamond Corp. said last month it is on track to open theprovince's first diamond mine, an operation that could yield 1.8million tonnes of kimberlite every 12 months.