Coal was the focus of Alberta’s mining operations for more than a century, from the 1860s until 1967, when Great Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. opened the first oil sands mine. From that moment on, oil sands mining began playing an increasingly pivotal role in Albertan industry. The fact that oil sands, according to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, account for 170 billion of Canada’s 175 billion barrels of oil reserves could alone explain why Alberta has been so focused on this particular sector over the past decades. However mining in Alberta is not limited to oil sands, and coal still plays an important role. Albertan coal is mainly thermal, but there are nonetheless interesting projects based on metallurgical coal. The risk in Alberta is that the two established industries of oil sands and coal might overshadow the province’s small but exciting hard-rock mining sector.

Potash, iron ore, industrial minerals, diamonds, lithium, and uranium hold particular potential in Alberta. A number of junior companies and an expanding service sector, primarily clustered around Edmonton, are working their way towards the development of these resources. Albeit less profitable than the oil sands, mineral mining in Alberta is driven by the passion of a solid group of people who firmly believe in the province’s mineral potential and seize every opportunity to promote it. The pioneering projects of companies such as Grizzly Discoveries, Channel Resources Ltd., Pacific Potash Corp., Lithium Exploration Group Inc. and DNI Metals Inc. are opening the way for Albertan mineral mining to emerge in an otherwise oil-focused jurisdiction.