Marking the 150th anniversary of the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), Canada Post is issuing a series of commemorative stamps depicting this country’s leading minerals.
Five in all, they will feature native gold from the Yukon and native copper from British Columbia’s Kamloops area. (Canada is the fourth ranking world producer of both of these minerals.) The stamps will be unveiled at the mines ministers’ conference in the Yukon in September.
Also included will be a specimen of galena (lead sulphide) from the Polaris mine of Cominco on Little Cornwallis Island in the Northwest Territories, a garnet gemstone from the Jeffrey asbestos mine in Quebec and a beautiful blue sodalite ornamental stone from Bancroft, Ont., which bills itself as the “mineral capital of Canada.”
Sponsored by the Mining Association of Canada, these are the first ever mineral stamps issued in this country, although there have been nearly 350 different stamps illustrating minerals issued by 64 other countries. As stamps travel all over the world, they are excellent ambassadors for the country they represent, Neil Carleton, who heads the resource development sector of the Canadian Museum of Nature, pointed out to The Northern Miner during a recent visit there.
Working closely with the GSC, that museum is building a unique national mineral collection now attracting worldwide interest.
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