British Columbia is Canada’s most westerly province, flanked by the Pacific Ocean, home to high mountains and known worldwide as one of Canada’s most beautiful and diverse regions. British Columbia (‘’B.C.’’) is also rich in natural resources and has over 150 years of mining history. It is one of the world’s most prolific mining regions and still has vast, untapped mineral reserves.
British Columbia has been a major mining region since the mid-1800s and continues to enjoy international notoriety within the mining industry to present day. In the 1850s, the discovery of gold in the Fraser River sent settlers flocking in droves. In fact, the discovery of mineral reserves continuously drove the population growth of B.C. for the next century and a half. Following the gold rush, underground operations were progressively replaced by open pits. In the 1960s, various open pit copper mines were built, attracting more miners and sustaining the surrounding communities. To many miners and communities today, mining continues to be a source of pride.
The mining industry in B.C. has come a long way in the past 50 years. Gross revenues in 2017 were CA $11.7 billion, as compared with CA $302 million in 1968. Copper revenues were around CA $80 million back then, compared to CA $1.9 billion in 2017.
British Columbia is Canada’s largest exporter of coal, leading producer of copper, and only producer of molybdenum. Also produced are significant amounts of gold, silver, lead, and zinc, and over 30 industrial minerals including gypsum, magnesite, limestone, and dimension stone.
In 2017, the B.C. mining industry remained optimistic as prices of metals and minerals produced in the region continued to rise. One of B.C.’s most important exports, metallurgical coal, used in steelmaking, saw the largest price surge in 2017, increasing by 50% compared to 2016. The average price of copper rose by 27% in 2017, while the average zinc price increased by 38%.
There are currently 17 major operating mines located across British Columbia, 9 of which produce coal, and 8 that produce copper. Between 70-90 % of coal produced in B.C. is metallurgical coal, and 10-30 % produced is thermal coal, which is burned for heat to generate electricity and for other industrial uses. The reopening of mines such as Brule & Wolverine contributed to a high production volume in coal for the province in 2017.
Similar to coal, copper is also booming, and nowhere is this more apparent than in B.C. Copper Mountain, Highland Valley Copper, New Afton, Red Chris, and Gibraltar; all mines that produce copper and contribute resources to the flourishing low-carbon economies. As one of the most popular metals, it is used in electric cars, wind turbines, solar panels, and energy storage.
“B.C. is also an international hub for clean technologies, and home to over 25% of all Canadian clean technology companies. One outcome of this movement towards more sustainable consumerism is an increased need for particular metals and minerals. Hybrid cars, as an example, require significantly more copper than conventional vehicles. MICROMINE wants to play an important part in this shift towards cleaner technologies by helping mining and exploration companies to operate more efficiently. We continuously improve and add functionalities to our three software solutions in order for each of them to help, in their own ways, optimize mining operations by advising on where to dig and by providing savings in time, energy, water and waste consumed by the traditional processes” commented Amelie St-Onge, Regional Manager of MICROMINE Canada.
2017 was a positive year for the B.C. mining sector, not only did rising commodity prices help the mineral sector employ over 30,000 people, it strengthened the confidence investors had in the region, (hopefully) leading to more investment into the sector in 2018 and beyond.
B.C. is recognized for its excellence in mining and mining-related fields, due to its abundance of resources, its strong labour force and easy access to ports. Vancouver, home to MICROMINE’s Canadian office since 1988, is known as an international center for industry head offices and mining support services such as geological research, engineering, environmental consulting and technology.
The uptake in exploration and exploitation activities in B.C. further reinforce mining companies’ current need for mining software solutions that optimize production and ensure proper data management. This is why MICROMINE Canada has been very busy in recent months. MICROMINE’s suite of software solutions is key to achieve the production goals of mines throughout B.C. and all over the world.
“Our Geobank software provides tools to deal effectively with the complexity of the resource with which our client is dealing, including coal. It provides a flexible and efficient environment to validate, store and access data from diverse software, applications and sources. Its flexible and scalable data model can be tailored to meet any exploration or mining requirement. Our Micromine software provides tools for geological modelling and mine design, ensuring that solutions are cost-effective, auditable and sustainable. Our software solutions work very well with each other, and many of our clients use Geobank as their data management system, and then use Micromine to visualize their data and design their mine” added St-Onge.
