Canada Leads North American Metals, Minerals, and Mining Mega-Project Capital Investment

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Due to its vast undeveloped natural resources and reasonably priced energy Canada has taken the lead in development of major metals, minerals, and mining sector "mega-projects" in North America. "Mega-projects" are defined as those projects whose total investment value falls in the multi-billion dollar range. There are primarily three regions within Canada where the bulk of this activity is taking place. They are the Athabasca oil sands region, in Alberta, the Quebec primary aluminum smelter region, and the Northwest Territories/Nunavut provinces diamond mining region.

Industrialinfo.com is currently tracking 13 Alberta oil sands mining projects representing almost $18 billion in potential spending. The largest major future oil sands mining project is Suncor Energy Incorporated's (NYSE:SU) (Calgary, Alberta) $5 billion Voyageur project. This is the next large mining expansion for the company after its recently completed $3.4 billion Project Millennium. Suncor hopes to increase capacity from a current 200,000 barrels a day up to 500,000 barrels a day by 2010.

Suncor's ongoing maintenance and capital upkeep at the existing Fort McMurray oil sands extraction plants run about $150 million per year.

Another major oil sands mining project is the Albian Sands Energy project. Albian Sands Energy Incorporated is under construction with a $1.2 billion Muskeg River Oil Sands Mine in Alberta and is planning a $1 billion expansion by 2005.

Quebec has become a hotbed of activity recently for North American primary aluminum growth, mainly due to its access to inexpensive hydroelectric power. Currently, North America is seeing a rush of primary aluminum production evacuate the U.S. The energy crisis of 2001 saw approximately 30% of U.S. primary aluminum capacity shutdown in the Pacific Northwest due to high-energy costs. This has lead most new project development for primary aluminum to be developed in areas with access to inexpensive energy, like Quebec. Currently, both Alcoa and Alcan are planning mega-projects in Quebec totaling $2 billion.

Canada's artic Northwest Territories and Nunavut provinces are home to several mega-project diamond mines. The first was the now operating Ekati diamond mine. Currently, the diavik diamond mine is being constructed at a cost of $870 million. De beers and Tahera also have large diamond projects in the advanced development stage.

With its vast natural resources Canada is positioned to lead North American metals, minerals, and mining development for years to come. Other Canadian metal resources such as gold and other nonferrous metals show significant potential for future expansion. Inco Limited recently received government approval to develop a new $1 billion nickel mine and hydrometallurgical smelter in Newfoundland.

For a more information about capital spending in the metals, minerals, and mining industry, join Joseph Govreau, Manager of Metals and Minerals for Industrialinfo.com as he is interviewed by Crazy Al on Industrialinfo.com Radio's Industry Today Program airing live Monday Morning 7:30 cst.