Thursday, May 12, 2011

B.C. Mining Industry Enjoying Land-Office Profits

As noted by The Tyee, mining revenues and profits for British Columbia's mining industry reached near-record levels last year.
[O]ver the course of last year, the industry's net earnings rose to $3.7 billion, up 65 per cent from 2009. And it was surging coal and copper prices -- BC's two biggest mineral exports -- that drove the results. Shipments of BC coal (which accounts for nearly 50 percent of BC's net mining revenue), jumped 23 per cent.

British Columbia has recovered from the 2008 crash faster than most jurisdictions, said BC Association of Mining President and CEO Pierre Gratton, because our most plentiful minerals are the very prerequisites for economic growth. Coal and copper are bellweathers of steel production and construction starts respectively, which continue to be strong globally. BC is also the world's biggest supplier of molybdenum, a mineral required in the production of steel....

Of note to gold junior watchers is a new electric-power transmission line going up in Northwestern B.C., which will make a host of new open-pit mines feasible. Viable properties along the line might become more valuable as a result, because the line would lower capital costs.

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