December 19, 2011

Mining in Northwest British Columbia

Mining is considered as the future economic driver of Northwest British Columbia, which is a shift from the logging industry that this region was built on.  As the Northwest Transmission Line gears up for construction, and mines work through their permitting and assessment process, many wonder what impacts the industry will have on Northwest BC and Terrace.

Natural resource jobs, including mining the huge amount of mineral deposits in Northwest British Columbia, are very high paying jobs in relation to the national average.  There is little income disparity throughout the world in the mining industry, which has become a global issue with the occupy movements, because natural resource extraction jobs cannot be moved.  In a global economy, services can move to where costs are the lowest.  Currently we are seeing many jobs outsourced to China because of the low costs of labour.  The minerals in the mountains of Northwest British Columbia cannot be moved so the extraction jobs can also not be moved.

The average wage in mining is over $100,000, which does not include the head office executives.  The Town of Smithers currently has over 80 families with a family member working at the Huckleberry Mine making over $80,000 a year. To give you some perspective in Smithers, the median income for a family is $64,124.

Workers in the mining industry have little fear about coming home after work not being in the same condition when they left.  Mining has the best safety record in the industrial field, with an injury rate of 1.9 injuries in 100 working years.  It is more dangerous to get into a cab in British Columbia than it is to work in a mine.

With steady, high paying jobs coming available as the industry develops near Terrace, many families will be well off in comparison to the global average.  We at TEDA are in full support of the mining industry, and look forward to a golden future with mining as its cornerstone.