Canada can't sit on its laurels if it wants to preserve its mining edge, according to a Canadian Chamber of Commerce report released this morning.
The report, The World's Mining Capital: How Canada Transformed its Resources Into a Global Competitive Advantage, identifies B.C. as the largest concentration of mining exploration firms in the world and Toronto as the capital of mining finance.
"We have leveraged our metal and mineral endowment not just by extracting and processing raw material but also by creating and selling the knowledge of how to develop these resources," said Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
But he cautioned, "What we need now is to ensure that the factors that made us the global leader of the sector are strengthened."
Beatty said a growing skills crisis represents "dark clouds" ahead for Canadian mining. The chamber also argues that government needs to keep investing in infrastructure to propel the industry.
"Access to resources and a regulatory regime that effectively protects Canadians without placing undue constraint on industry is becoming increasingly important," he said.
