This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.
Any new employer and enterprise in Ontario should be celebrated for the job and business opportunities it provides. Every one boosts the province’s economy, produces tax revenue to support infrastructure and provides stability to society. Because of the large scale involved, the start-up of a new mine multiplies the positive economic impact of most new businesses.
Last month, Vale officially opened the Totten nickel-copper mine in the Sudbury Basin. It is located in Worthington, which is about 40 kilometres west of Sudbury. Senior company management, employees, the Premier, the Minister of Northern Development and Mines, local First Nations leaders and municipal officials were on hand to show support and participate in the mine’s opening ceremonies. For sure this was an event worth celebrating, so let’s look at some of the numbers behind this new mine to see what benefits it offers.
The capital expenditures to bring the new mine into production were $760 million – more than three-quarters of billion dollars. The development of the project took seven years to complete. In order to put this sum into perspective, the 2014 operating budget for the City of Greater Sudbury is projected at $502 million and the projected operating budget for Windsor in 2014 is $722 million.