HOW ACCELERATING GROWTH IS PUTTING PRESSURE ON CANADIAN MINERS
By: Evan Lucyk
There’s a specific balancing act that exists between supply and demand, an age-old battle that remains a constant in every industry—including the mining world. Today we’re seeing such a high spike in demand on a multitude of levels in our various mining industries that we’re dedicating an entire article to explore it a bit more, including which industries are especially feeling the pinch—and where.
The pressure of high demand is hitting every single one of our mining industries right now. Why? The answer is simple: It’s because of the catastrophically large demand for just about every mineral worldwide. You could aptly say that it’s a mineral’s marketplace.
Also contributing to the volume is a worldwide demand for certain kinds of electronics and battery technology. And with batteries needing so much nickel and copper, for example, the demand for these rare earth minerals is only escalating. Which also escalates the need to secure raw materials to make all of this possible
The big push in this direction has placed tremendous pressure on our potash industry, leaving it (by the looks of things as they are now) pretty much sold out throughout a great deal of 2022. The demand is certainly not driven by the same factors as the metals and rare earth elements, but rather a combination of climate conditions, world food requirements and supply. In response to this increased demand, all of the mines here in Canada are working extremely hard.
When you look at the situation, it can feel almost surreal when you realize just how much jeopardy our raw material supply was in at the onslaught of the pandemic due to much of it coming from Asia. We’ve been scrambling to compensate and play a sort of game of panicked catch-up, all the while looking for alternatives for supply. Whether it’s copper or nickel, or those rare earth minerals required for semiconductors, we’ve seen a big push for North American mining to deliver.
Although we are working at a breakneck pace and giving it our all across the various mining industries, the pressure being put on the mining world today feels insurmountable at times. Local mines are under pressure to fulfill and ship the demanded supply. This means that, in addition to being able to import vast quantities, our big problem currently is ocean freight and not being able to get the necessary boats here, either. And where does this leave us? With demand at its highest peak so far, going unfulfilled due to lack of resources at our disposal.
For more information on how each specific niche industry is being affected, check out our separate articles covering nickel mining in BC, niobium mining in Quebec, and copper mining in BC. For those of you especially interested in the history of Canada’s mining industry, you´ll find our articles exploring the Canadian Gold Rush and the nation’s first rare earth metals mine of particular interest as well.