Scope for Preliminary Estimates of Mineral Production


The publication of statistics on the mineral production of Canada was instituted by the Geological and Natural History Survey of Canada as early as 1886. The Department of Mines carried out this compilation through the early part of the twentieth century. Subsequently, the work was transferred to Statistics Canada (StatCan), which published the data for the period 1921 to 1978. In January 1979, the responsibility for Canadian non-fuel mineral statistics was transferred from Statistics Canada to the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, now known as Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). StatCan retained responsibility for fuels and mineral manufacturing statistics.

In September 2018, the program—renamed the Minerals and Metals Production Statistics Program (MMPSP) — moved to a shared program delivery model administered jointly by NRCan and StatCan. Since that date, StatCan has assumed the responsibility for the collection, processing and release of production statistics on minerals and metals under the Statistics Act. NRCan continues to publish these statistics, as well as industry statistics, on its website, under the Resources and Technical Surveys Act.

Over this period, the construction of new metallurgical plants and the development of new types of ore have resulted in changes in methods of compilation but, in general, the following principles have been applied.

For nonmetallic minerals such as asbestos, talc, barite, etc., and for structural materials such as stone, cement, etc., the mine or quarry shipments are taken to represent production. Usually there is little difference between actual output and mine shipments, and it is more convenient and practical to measure the product at the latter point. Values are computed on the free on board (f.o.b.) shipping point basis and represent, therefore, the amounts actually received by the producers. Values are adjusted to exclude the costs of containers, taxes, duties, sales discounts, and outward-bound transportation.

Production data for certain simple metallic ores such as iron ore, uranium, etc., are compiled in a similar manner, that is, products shipped from a specific shipping point at f.o.b. values. For some metals, this is not practical and an attempt is made to measure output in terms of recoverable metals in concentrates shipped, which are then valued at current market prices.

Metals recovered in Canadian smelters from the treatment of foreign ores are not included in the commodity figures in Table 1 to Table 3.

The value of metallic mineral production calculated in this manner does not coincide with the amounts actually received by the producers.

Note:
Monthly production figures (quantities only) are available for most metals and non-metals.



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