TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Canada’s Natural Resources Minister and Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario Greg Rickford  opened the market at the TSX on Thursday in honour of National Mining Week, a yearly celebration of Canada's international leadership and expertise in mining.

Close to 60% of the world's publicly traded mining companies were listed on the TSX or TSX-Venture Exchange, accounting for more than half of the world's equity financing for mining and mineral exploration.

Canada's mining sector was an important contributor to its economy. The mining and mineral processing industry generated about $60-billion for Canada's gross domestic product, more than a $10-billion increase over 2009.

Mining employed some 380 000 Canadians, including 10 000 Aboriginal people, and accounted for one-fifth of Canada's merchandise exports.

Last month, the federal government under the Conservative leadership of Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a number of measures in its ‘Economic Action Plan 2015’ that built on the country’s already substantial contribution to creating and protecting mining opportunities, including the development of Northern Ontario's Ring of Fire.

These measures included the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit that was extended for another year to provide junior mining companies with improved access to the venture capital they needed to finance their exploration activities; and expanding the definition of Canadian exploration expenses to include costs associated with environmental studies and community consultations. The government had allocated $23-million over five years to stimulate the technological innovation needed to separate and develop rare-earth elements and chromite, $22-million over five years for the Targeted Geoscience Initiative – a collaborative federal geoscience programme that provided industry with the next generation of geoscience knowledge and innovative techniques to better detect buried mineral deposits – and $135-million over five years to the Major Projects Management Office Initiative to provide management and accountability for significant resource projects.