How to make money mining good ore bodies in Ontario

Here is a link to a report issued by the Ontario Mining Association called The Economic Impacts of a ‘Representative Mine’ in Ontario.   But first a picture of sunset over the Sifto Salt Mine–and you will need a grain of salt to read this report.

This is a strange report.  Its purpose is so obviously propaganda for the Ontario mining industry that I doubt it will get much credibility even if its facts and analyses are correct.  They really should have called in the Pembina Institute to show them how to produce propaganda that comes across as objective.  

The most glaring omission is the failure to take into account the cost to society of closing a mine–even a representative one.  Maybe they just do not close mines in Ontario?  There is lots of gushing enthusiasm for opening and operating a mine, but nary a word about the cost of closure. 

There is lots of obvious economic benefit to any mine, anywhere that simply spends money to open and mine a good ore body.  We hardly need a prestigious report to tell us that.  But surely we should also consider the economic implications of closing a mine–the Scoble report on the Kemess North mine showed it is not always simple, nor a net positive impact.