Canadian research program seeks to transform our understanding of how orebodies form

Mining is a wealth-creation industry that produces the metals and minerals essential to every sector of our economy. For instance, in 2018, Canada produced over 60 minerals and metals from almost 200 mines and 6,500 sand, gravel, and stone quarries valued at $47 billion, according to Natural Resources Canada. Mineral exploration is at the front end of the mining industry, and the discovery of new orebodies is vital to meet the demands of a growing world population. However, finding new orebodies, particularly those rich enough to be developed into working mines, is hugely challenging. The chance of a mineral discovery becoming a mine, for example, is estimated to be around one in a million. And even after a deposit has been defined, the odds that it will be economically viable are, at best, still only around one in a thousand.