253,000 active mining claims

Gain a long-term strategic advantage by doing business where your company can grow securely in a fair and transparent environment. Whether your company is involved in exploration or mining services and supplies, you’ll discover opportunities in Ontario.

Secure land tenure

Ontario’s Mining Act provides security of mining land tenure and fair and transparent mining law, allowing your company to plan long-term growth. Currently there are 253,000 active mining claims in good standing in Ontario.

Active Mining Claims in Ontario
Location Active Claims Active Cells Approved Assessment Work $
Kenora 16,181 16,885 1,269,639
Red Lake 26,522 30,695 3,635,996
Patricia 14,622 15,179 847,813
Thunder Bay 61,414 66,231 6,761,247
Sault Ste. Marie 12,140 16,288 1,773,045
Porcupine 52,876 56,500 8,910,430
Sudbury 16,873 18,230 956,570
Larder 46,878 48,250 14,376,853
Southern Ontario 5,370 5,484 250,315
Total 252,876 273,742 38,781,908
*As of March 31, 2019

$10.1 billion and growing

Ontario’s mineral production has shown solid growth over the past 10 years, with a total value of $10.1 billion in 2018, and is forecast to keep growing in the long term.

In Ontario, you will find a diversified economy with a highly skilled workforce and abundant natural resources. Our economy has a proven record of weathering economic uncertainty in global markets, allowing you to focus on the future.

Ontario mineral production, 2018
Metallics Nonmetallics Coal Total Share of Canadian production (%)
($000)  
7,624,235 2,436,195 - 10,060,429 21.4
Notes: - Nil; Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.
Figures are preliminary.
Production is based on shipments.
Source: Natural Resources Canada; Statistics Canada.

View mining claims

View active unpatented mining claims in Ontario with the Mining Lands Administration System Map Viewer.

Vast mineral deposits present huge opportunities

With the largest mineral production in Canada, Ontario offers a wealth of opportunities for your company whether you’re a producer, supplier or service provider.

Is your company where the action is?

Ontario offers highly competitive business costs that can boost your company’s growth and profitability:

  • on a global level, Ontario ranks among the top ten regions for exploration spending and production of platinum group metals (PGMs) and nickel
  • in 2018, mining companies in Ontario spent $583 million on over 200 exploration projects ranging from prospecting to advanced exploration
  • Ontario produces more than $10 billion worth of mining supplies and services every year
  • we attract more exploration spending and produce more minerals by value than any other jurisdiction in Canada

Ontario mining sites

Over 200 mineral exploration projects are currently underway in Ontario. One very promising mineral development opportunity in Ontario is known as the Ring of Fire. Located in Ontario’s Far North, current estimates suggest multi-generational potential of chromite production and significant production of nickel, copper and platinum. In the Ring of Fire, work continues to advance at the Eagle’s Nest nickel-copper deposit.

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Mining Companies

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The information you need

Need more specific information? We offer a comprehensive array of maps, surveys, reports and digital data to help you make an informed decision for your business operations. Contact us to find out more.

Access global capital markets from the world’s mining finance capital

Toronto, Ontario is the mining finance capital of the world. Grow your business with access to global capital markets and the right industry connections.

How Ontario compares

The global mining industry gets business done in Ontario. That means that you’ll have access to markets and capital, whether you’re in mining finance or looking for capital to grow your business.

  • Approximately 1,200 mining companies were listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and Toronto Venture Exchange (TSX-V) in 2018, including more than half of the public mining companies in the world.
  • Capital investment in mining in Ontario has increased from $735 million in 2004 to 2.1 billion in 2018.
  • In 2018, the TSX and TSX-V raised $6.5 billion in new equity capital for mining.
  • In 2017, approximately 70% of all new mining equity capital raised in the world came from the TSX and TSX-V.
Mining Equity Capital Raised on the TSX/TSX-V ($ billion)
Year TSX/TSX-V ($ billion)
2004 5.1
2005 4.0
2006 10.1
2007 19.0
2008 8.3
2009 21.6
2010 17.8
2011 12.5
2012 10.3
2013 6.9
2014 8.9
2015 6.8
2016 9.4
2017 8.5
2018 6.5
Ontario Capital Investment in Mining
Year Value ($)
2004 735,019,301
2005 658,986,427
2006 946,765,432
2007 1,229,091,487
2008 1,173,582,582
2009 973,445,152
2010 1,305,807,141
2011 2,492,867,808
2012 3,134,510,265
2013 1,700,099,498
2014 1,398,945,870
2015 1,914,818,919
2016 2,022,874,549
2017 1,876,848,819
2018p 2,090,609,779
p=preliminary
Source: Natural Resources Canada

A leading mining education cluster

The demand for skilled, well-trained workers affects every facet of the mining industry. Ontario’s highly skilled and educated workers will help fuel your company's success.

Grow with the right talent

If you are looking for the right people, Ontario offers a deep talent pool for sourcing mining, energy and infrastructure industry personnel, including managerial and technical staff. You will find one of the best mining education clusters in the world to support your company’s growth.

Nineteen of Ontario’s 22 universities and 24 colleges have world-class mining, geology and engineering programs. In addition, Ontario's mining industry is supported by an array of R&D institutes. Explore the map to see where our programs are located.

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A record of safe mining operations

Our workforce also helps to ensure safe mining operations. Ontario is one of the safest mining jurisdictions in the world and continues to improve both the lost time injury rate and total medical injury rate.

  • Ontario had zero mining injury fatalities in 2018.
  • Ontario’s 2018 lost time injury rate for mining was 0.5 per 200,000 employee hours while in 2017 it was 0.6.
  • Our 2018 total injury rate for mining was 3.9 per 200,000 employee hours while in 2017 it was 4.0.

Leverage Government Support

The Northern Industrial Electricity Rate Program assists Northern Ontario’s largest industrial electricity consumers to reduce energy costs and sustain jobs. The program provides investment of up to $120 million annually to support large industrial electricity users in Northern Ontario, including several mining companies. It can help you reduce electricity costs by up to 25%.

The federal Mineral Exploration Tax Credit program provides investors in the flow-through shares of mineral exploration companies working in Canada a 15% tax credit. Ontario provides an additional permanent Ontario Focused Flow-Through Share 5% Tax Credit for companies exploring in the province. The program allows tax credits and tax deductions for exploration to “flow through” to investors purchasing the shares. A $1,000 investment in flow through shares for exploration in Ontario could cost as little as $375 after federal and provincial tax credits and deductions.

Mineral exploration and development consultants with the Ministry of Energy, Northern Development and Mines can provide guidance and oversight for a mineral development project in Ontario. This includes the ‘one window’ coordination process – an overview of legislation and regulations and details on how to work with the Ministry of Energy, Northern Development and Mines to coordinate with other regulators.

Ontario’s updated Mining Act includes initiatives such as online mining claims registration with the Mining Lands Administration System (MLAS); and providing more clarity with respect to the rights of Indigenous communities and private landowners in the mineral development process.

Mineral sector research in exploration and deep mining is conducted at Ontario schools and at organizations including:

Ontario’s geoscience data is widely recognized as one of our competitive advantages. Public geoscience information enables exploration companies to make informed decisions regarding their exploration projects.

Priceless intelligence at a click

Ontario’s is ranked 20th in the world for the quality of its geological database by the Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies, 2018.

The Ontario Geological Survey (OGS) provides a wealth of geoscience data through its Geology Ontario and OGSEarth online applications.

  • Geology Ontario provides online user-friendly access to public geoscience data including 17,000 OGS geological reports and maps, as well as 80,000 exploration assessment files that are available online for discovery and downloading at no charge.
  • OGSEarth provides geoscience data relating to mining claims, geology, index maps, administrative boundaries and abandoned mines that can be viewed using 3D mapping and viewing tools such as Google Earth or other applications that are compatible with Keyhole Markup Language (KML). All data provided by OGSEarth is available in KML format.

If you explore in Ontario, you’ll have access to a wide range of free, online mineral information that will help you find the best prospects.