Making the most of Québec's vast resources

With a sustainable mining infrastructure in place and a wealth of expertise to tap into, Québec has carved out an enviable place for itself in the mining industry.

• More than 300 mining companies and 250 mineral exploration companies.
• Nearly 15,000 jobs.
• More than 1,600,000 metres of diamond drilling completed for mineral exploration purposes.
• Gold deliveries of 800,000 ounces.
• $483 million in spending generated by exploration and development operations, according to preliminary data prepared by the Institut de la statistique du Québec.
• An unprecedented $2.5 billion in mining investments, an increase of 22% over the previous year.
• $6.8 billion in mineral deliveries, an all-time high following continued growth.
• Large-scale investment projects by several mining companies to expand their active mines or develop new ones. A number of projects have been announced, and others are about to be, in particular those involving the iron ore mines in the northern communities of Schefferville and Fermont and the coastal communities of Sept-Îles and Port-Cartier.

Québec's mineral strategy

Québec's forward-looking, sustainability-oriented mineral strategy, unveiled in June 2009, draws on several generations of mining and exploration expertise. It is based on three guiding principles:

• creating wealth and preparing for the future of the Québec mining sector;
• ensuring environmentally friendly mineral development;
• fostering integrated, community-related mineral development.

Plan Nord

Northern Québec's mineral potential is exceptionally vast. Plan Nord's focus is to ensure the sustainable development of the region's energy, mining, forestry, wildlife, tourism and bio-food resources by advocating the adoption of concrete measures to develop their economic potential.

Plan Nord will be carried out over a 25-year period and lead to over $80 billion in investments. The mining industry will therefore be one of the key drivers of wealth creation in this area.

A competitive industry

Québec boasts a skilled workforce as well as a number of training facilities, specialized research centres and mining research groups and consortiums. Moreover, Québec is a global leader in the capture of geoscientific data.

These strengths have helped foster numerous innovations that are in turn helping the Québec mining industry remain competitive on a global scale.

Looking to the future

The vitality of Québec's mining and mineral exploration projects involving such metals as lithium and rare earth elements makes them truly unique. These projects are consistent with the government's action plans promoting electric vehicles and green energies.

Tax incentives

The Québec government is working to ensure the province's mining industry remains viable and competitive by offering various mining and mineral-exploration tax incentives, including:

• Québec's flow-through share program, under which individual investors can claim deductions of up to 150% of the cost of their investment;
• refundable tax credit relating to resources, introduced in 2001, which refunds companies up to 38.75% of eligible exploration expenses incurred in Québec;
• refundable credit on duties for losses, a unique tax incentive in Canada introduced in 1985. It refunds mining operators for the assessed value of certain exploration, deposit appraisal and mine development investments prior to production. This credit gives rise to a refund equivalent to:
  • 12% before March 31, 2010;
  • 14% after March 30, 2010, and before January 1, 2011;
  • 15% in 2011 and 16% as of January 1, 2012;
• various allowances, including a depreciation allowance and a processing allowance, that help producers reduce the amount of duty payable.