1. Canada’s Mineral Wealth

2. Question: How sustainable is the primary industry economy in Canada?
This unit has driven by the idea of SUSTAINABILITY and more importantly by the question:
“is the capacity to maintain a certain process or state indefinitely”
Question: How sustainable is the primary industry economy in Canada?
There are 5 Major primary industries in Canada. We are now looking at the fourth one and will finish up with Energy.
Fishing
Forestry
Farming
Mining
Energy

3. Mining Definitions – Let’s Get Started
To start off your notes on the topic of Mining, write the following definitions into your book using the glossary or the Chapter on Mining
Mineral 6. Ore
Metallic Mineral 7. Milling
Fossil Fuel 8. Smelting
Industrial Mineral
Mineral Reserve

4. Mining Do you have some Canadian mining products with you today?
Check your pocket for coins?
Are you wearing any nylon or fleece?
Do those clothes contain zippers?
Definition: Mining is the process of extracting minerals from rocks
A Mineral is a naturally occurring, pure, non-living substances found in rocks.
Minerals are divided into 3 categories in Canada:
1. Metallic refined, yielding metals
2. Fossil fuels a mineral that can be
burned to produce energy
3. Industrial neither metallic or fossil fuels

5. Metallic Minerals
Gold 
Copper
Gold, copper and iron
Iron 

6. Fossil Fuels
 Natural Gas
Coal
Natural gas, oil, coal
 Oil

7. Industrial Minerals  Diamond Asbestos  Soapstone

8. Minerals Mined in Canada by Type
Metallic Minerals
cobalt
Copper – electrical wiring
Gold - beauty
Iron - strength
lead Nickel – with iron makes
steel platinum
Silver – beauty
uranium zinc
Industrial Minerals
Asbestos – protect people
from fire and heat
Building Stone
Clay products
Diamonds – hard mineral
used for cutting
tools and
jewelry
Gravel - major ingredient in
concrete
Gypsum – makes drywall
Potash – makes fertilizer
Salt
Sand
Soapstone – soft mineral used
to make sculptures
by the Inuit
Fossil Fuels
Coal
Natural Gas
Oil
Oil Sands

9. Where do we mine in Canada (Location)
Examine figure 26-5 on page 330 in your textbook. Choose the 3 most important provinces for each of the following:
Metallic minerals
Fossil Fuels
Industrial minerals
Ontario
Quebec
British Columbia
Alberta
British Columbia
Saskatchewan
Alberta
Saskatchewan
Ontario
Quebec

10. So, where do we mine in Canada?
Mention where major mining occurs: away from major cities
Country wide, but mainly out west in Alberta, BC and Saskatchewan, away from major cities.

11. How Important is Mining in Canada?
Read your textbook, page 328 – 329, “The Importance of Mining in Canada,” and write down at least 4 points that shows the importance. Summarize the paragraph.
Key Points:
ranked 3rd in the world in production of minerals
largest exporter
-80% of production exported
2001, total value of all mineral production = $83 billion
post WWII, all railway expansion and some roadways built to ease development of mineral reserves
Tax breaks to encourage exploration of new reserves
Governments own mines, because they know importance

12. How Valuable is Mining to Canada?

13. What is this missing? Fossil Fuels
Notice this must be missing fossil fuel numbers. Coal  oil

14. How Do We Mine? Strip Mining
Mining Machines video
Strip Mining
is used to mine oil sand, coal and other minerals located in the top layers near the surface
Open Pit Mining
is used to mine minerals that are found near the surface of the earth, but also may extend deep into the ground
Underground Mining
is used to extract mineral ores located DEEP within earth. Miners take an elevator downwards and blast the rock with explosives. Blasted rock is called muck.
Small trains remove the muck where it is crushed and loaded onto a hoist, called a skip. The skip lifts the ore to the surface where is it take to a storage site to await processing.
Have students give answers as they should have completed this for homework; video is only about 2:30 in length

15. Implications of Mining
Let’s take a look at some of the implications from the angles we’ve looked at all year:
Read “Challenges for Canada’s Mining Industry”(pg ) and determine the challenges the mining industry faces in Canada and group them into the 2 columns below.
Natural Environment Human Environment
Land claims of First Nations
-who owns the land = who profits?
-Increase processing and manufacturing of minerals in Canada
-”boom and bust” nature of mining
-what happens to mining towns when mine closes?
Environmental controls
-destroy habitats, clear cutting, animal extinction
-develop new technologies to improve efficiency
-by products of mining unclean
-harmful to environment
-global warming
-new and improved uses of minerals
-more uses = more reasons to mine?
Have students come up with some of these before you show them

16. Summarize what you have learned by writing a short paragraph answering the following question:
What does the government need to do to increase the sustainability of this primary resource/industry?
Complete the following textbook questions:
pg # 1a, b and 2