THUNDER BAY – MINING – The Ontario Mining Association study “An Au-thentic Opportunity: The economic impacts of a new gold mine in Ontario” was featured at a University of Toronto economic outlook conference last week. Several representatives from financial institutions and government were on hand to hear the presentation by Peter Dungan and Steve Murphy from the University of Toronto’s Policy and Economic Analysis Program.
The OMA study shared the program with a presentations by Mr. Dungan on the “Economic Outlook for Canada” and by Matthew Mendelsohn on “Infrastructure and Progressive Economic Growth.” Mr. Mendelsohn is with the Mowat Centre, which started in 2010 and is part of the University of Toronto’s School of Public Policy and Governance.
The representative gold mine study was first presented by its authors, Mr. Dungan and Mr. Murphy, late last year. The report was completed for the Ontario Mining Association with assistance from the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines. At the recent economic summit, the presentation focused on the methodology employed to gather and assess the data as well as the actual positive impact, which would be provided by a new gold producer in this province.
“We are pleased to see the study on the far reaching contributions of a new gold mine in Ontario gain an airing in front of an influential audience from the academic and business worlds,” said OMA President Chris Hodgson. “The findings of the study provide useful information for policy makers and will undoubtedly be cited in future studies on similar topics.”
“An Au-thentic Opportunity: The Economic Impacts of a New Gold Mine in Ontario” shows that just one new gold mine in Ontario could provide more than 2,200 direct and indirect jobs and pay more than $102 million in tax revenue for all levels of government annually.
The four-pronged study demonstrates the positive economic impacts on an annual basis for both an underground and an open pit gold mine and for both types of operations during an estimated three-year construction phase of a new mine and the production phase of these mines, which could last for decades. The economists have used broad sources of public data, mining company disclosure documents and economic models from the Input-Output Division at Statistics Canada.
For example, an underground gold mine with about $300 million in sales annually with 620 direct employees, would create 894 jobs from mine supply companies and a further 690 induced jobs largely in the retail and service sector. Induced jobs are created through direct and indirect employees spending their wages, which are well above the provincial average.
Mr. Dungan is the Director of the Policy and Economic Analysis Program at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and a professor, teaching in both undergraduate and graduate school programs. Mr. Murphy is a Research Associate at the school’s Policy and Economic Analysis Program. Both economists have been involved in a number of previous economic impact studies of the mining sector in Ontario.
The full report “An Au-thentic Opportunity: The Economic Impacts of a New Gold Mine in Ontario,” which can be download, is on the OMA website www.oma.on.ca along with an info-graphic depicting the key findings of the study.
