Canada is known to have a thriving mineral exploration industry. Mineral exploration is one of the key factors that help with the sustainability and development of the mining industry. Through mineral exploration, the discovery of mineral deposits can create mines and new jobs, which can lead to investment.
To learn more about mineral exploration and its importance, continue reading below.
What Is Mineral Exploration?
Mineral exploration is an activity wherein there is a search done for minerals in the earth’s crust. Once these minerals are found to be in high amounts, they can be then mined for profit or other material uses.
This is a crucial step in creating mines for certain locations. Mines are not just built randomly, rather areas need to undergo mineral exploration first to determine if it is viable to create a mine there.
How Is Mineral Exploration Done?
There are various steps that are first taken before the exploration can occur. Each step is important to the success of the mineral exploration. These steps are as follows:
- Planning of the exploration through surveys, such as airborne geophysical surveys, along with aerial photography and remote sensing.
- Geological mapping, geochemical sampling are done to prospect the ground.
- Trenching and drilling to verify anomalies
- Stripping, sampling, and drilling are done to discover the mineral deposits.
- Identification of the minerals through various tests and surveying of the environmental site
- Conduction of pilot tests, engineering design and planning, and risk analysis for site feasibility
- Checking financial feasibility of project through financial studies and estimation costs
- Feasibility studies through data review, analysis, and reports to finalize decisions
All the steps are done to ensure the existence of minerals and to identify them. Additionally, it is also needed to make sure that further projects on the site will be feasible and profitable. Missing one step may result in the failure of any current or future projects.
Who Conducts Mineral Exploration?
In Canada, mineral exploration is done mostly by junior and senior mining companies. Junior companies are known to conduct higher-risk or early-stage projects and while they have no revenue, they use equity financing to back them up. Senior companies are bigger in number and operations and would partner up with mines.
Some companies would also cooperate or work together to achieve better results. One example of an alliance of these companies is Newfoundland Gold.
Who Owns Mineral Rights In Canada?
Most of the mineral rights in Canada are owned by the provincial or territorial governments. However, some are owned by the federal government, such as in Nunavut and offshore. There are also certain cases wherein mineral rights are owned and administered by Indigenous groups.
How Does Canada Benefit From Mineral Exploration?
Canada is rich in mineral resources and relies heavily on the mining industry, such as the Canadian gold sector. Other minerals that are more commonly found in Canada are diamonds and base metals. These minerals help in attracting significant investments and can be greatly profited from.
Graphite, lithium, and other earth elements are also useful when it comes to clean technology. Aside from that, information technology also uses these minerals for their benefit and advancement. With mineral exploration, more of these minerals can be found and used as resources in Canada.
Conclusion
Mineral exploration is an important activity done for the advancement and development of the mining industry. Without it, the mining industry would not thrive in the way that it is thriving now.
To learn more about mining exploration in Canada, especially mining in Newfoundland, you can check Newfoundland Gold. We are an alliance of companies dedicated to helping advance the mining industry in Canada’s Newfoundland. Get in contact with us to learn more and show your support!
