Rising commodity prices signal that 2010 will be a strong year for B.C.’s mineral industry, according to Randy Hawes, the province’s minister of state for mining.
Hawes reported that mineral exploration activity in B.C. totaled C$154 million in 2009, down more than 50 percent from C$367 million in 2008.
“This was the sixth-highest total for exploration spending in the last 20 years,” he said in a statement Jan. 18. “Despite a difficult economic climate in 2009, the mining industry is helping lead the provincial economic recovery. The province’s mineral resources are in demand, and B.C. is an attractive place to invest in exploration and mining.”
British Columbia’s Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources released two reports in January, documenting the 2009 exploration and mining activity, as well as the annual report on Geological Fieldwork and several other reports and maps by the British Columbia Geological Survey.
In the province’s Northwest region, more than C$65 million in mineral exploration activity occurred last year, while the Northeast attracted C$20 million in comparable activity. The North-central region of British Columbia saw an estimated $28 million; the South-central region drew C$21 million; the Southeast had C$9 million and the Southwest drew C$11 million.
The province saw more than 80 exploration projects with budgets exceeding C$250,000, and a total of more than 350 exploration projects for minerals, coal, industrial minerals and aggregates throughout British Columbia.
The province reported new mine proposals in 2009 totaling 36, of which 21 were metal mines and 10 were coal mines; two were industrial minerals quarries and three were large aggregate operations. Twenty-three were in the environmental assessment process; seven were in the Mines Act permitting process and six were in development.
Exploration drilling in British Columbia totaled more than 350,000 meters during the year, and 28 new mineral discoveries were reported in the province.
