COMMENTARY/GORDON PEELING

Marking mining milestones

This year marks a milestone for the Canadian mining industry — it is the 100th anniversary of both the Yukon gold rush and the founding of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum.

Mining has been a fundamental part of Canadian life since the turn of the century, when optimistic prospectors traded their household belongings for picks and shovels and embarked on an adventurous journey to the Yukon.

Mining has brought a life of undreamed riches for a lucky few and has provided a steady income, challenging career and comfortable lifestyle for hundreds of thousands. For all Canadians it has provided the economic foundation of our present well-being.

Over the last 100 years, mining has done far more than make a steady contribution to the national economy and provide a colorful chapter to Canadian history books. In their drive to make the Canadian mining industry the world leader it is today, Canadian mining people, past and present, developed technological tools, methods and skills that revolutionized many aspects of mining exploration, development and processing.

Anyone who visits a working mine or a mineral exploration project today would have difficulty locating a pick and shovel. He is more likely to find leading-edge satellite systems that prospectors use to determine the exact location of orebodies or sophisticated instruments that enable technicians to explore with robotic machinery.

Some of our mining industry’s biggest technological advancements have been made in the environmental arena. For example, Canadian innovators have developed new breeds of bacteria that neutralize compounds found in mine waste to help reclaim former mine sites.

In many ways, however, time has stood still. Just as could be said a century ago, mining today is a vital component of Canada’s natural resource sector and a major contributor to the Canadian economy from coast to coast.

— The author is president of the Mining Association of Canada. He wrote this column at the request of Mining Works for Canada (formerly Keep Mining in Canada), a grassroots campaign designed to increase awareness of the importance of mining in this country.