Canada – Mining by the numbers, 2021

Canada's minerals production remained strong for precious metals in 2021, with gold output growing to 6.7 million ounces from 6.0 Moz in 2020. The country rose to fourth place for global gold production and maintained third place for platinum group metals. Conversely, Canada lagged in production of base metals such as copper, nickel and cobalt. Based on estimates by S&P Global Market Intelligence, production from gold-producing assets in the country is expected to rise 63% between 2021 and 2025.

Canada reigned as the most explored country in 2021 with a budget of $2.09 billion for all stages of exploration — 10% more than second-ranked Australia. With a budget increase of 62% year over year, Canada had the largest budget growth among the top 10 countries being explored. The $800.5 million budget surge was a 10-year high increase and was largely driven by junior companies. Allocations to the country grew across all stages of project development, mainly focused on gold.

As with the global trend, exploration spending in Canada over the past decade has been mostly focused on late-stage and minesite work. However, the recovery of grassroots exploration in 2021 cushioned a decrease in the number of initial resource announcements.