Mining Exploration A Jackpot for Province

By 250 News

2006 will go down in the books as the best yet when it comes to dollars spent on mining exploration in B.C.

The Ministry of Mining says $265 million dollars was spent on mineral exploration in the province last year.

Minister of State for Mining Bill Bennett says the previous record was $228 million nearly two decades ago.  "This is a 20 per cent increase from the near-record $220million reached in 2005, and a tremendous increase from the $29 millionspent on exploration when we took office in 2001."

He is optimistic about the future of mining in the province "Three new mines opened in B.C. last year and increased exploration will lead to even more mine developments, providing a tremendous boost to local economies," said Bennett.

Here is the  region by region breakdown of the exploration projects:

Northwest B.C.    
# of PROJECTS: 171
EXPENDITURE: $128 million

REGION: Northeast B.C.
# of PROJECTS: 25
EXPENDITURE: $20 million

REGION: Central B.C.
# of PROJECTS: 117
EXPENDITURE: $46.5 million

REGION: South Central B.C.
# of PROJECTS: 138
EXPENDITURE: $46 million

REGION: Southeast B.C.
# of PROJECTS: 116
EXPENDITURE: $15.5 million

REGION: Southwest B.C.
# of PROJECTS: 50
EXPENDITURE: $8.5 million

Total # of PROJECTS: 617
EXPENDITURE: $264.5 million

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