British Columbia

British Columbia has a long-standing natural resource sector, including mining, forestry, and agriculture. The terrain of British Columbia is very rugged, and makes transportation and logistics difficult, particularly in the north part of the province.

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British Columbia - An Overview

Economy

Over the past five years, British Columbia has frequently surpassed the rest of Canada in quarterly economic growth and employment creation. With 13 per cent of the Canadian population, British Columbia is now the country’s third most populous province, after Ontario and Quebec. Producing about 12 per cent of Canada’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), British Columbia has a GDP of more than $199 billion. British Columbia’s economy, as measured by real GDP, is expected to expand 24 per cent between 2008 and 2017. The service sector is forecast to provide most of the impetus for growth, expanding 27 per cent.

Population

As of January 1, 2011, British Columbia’s population stood at 4,554,085, an increase of 55,295 or 1.2 per cent compared with the previous year. British Columbia ranks as the third most popular destination for immigrants to Canada with more than 44,000 arriving in 2010. China currently ranks as the top source country of immigrants to B.C., followed by the Philippines, India, the United Kingdom, the United States, Taiwan, Korea and Iran. Of the more than 44,000 immigrants who settled in B.C. in 2010, over 16,500 were classified as skilled workers and 5,500 were investors.

Labor Force

In 2010, more than 2.44 million people were in British Columbia’s labour force and the average monthly unemployment rate was recorded at 7.6 per cent. Due to expected job openings, the province’s unemployment rate is expected to drop to around 7.0 per cent by 2014 and then steadily decline to 4.6 per cent in 2019. (B.C. Labour Market Scenario Model 2009-2019). Immigrants, temporary foreign workers and Canadians who move to B.C. are all important components of the labour force and are expected to continue to play a significant role in meeting labour market demands across the province.

Economy

B.C.’s economy is expected grow moderately over the next year according to B.C.’s independent Economic Forecast Council. On average, the council forecasts B.C.’s GDP growth at 3.3 per cent for this year. More > B.C.’s Top Credit Rating Reconfirmed The Dominion Bond Rating Service, Standard & Poor, and Moody's Investment Service have all reconfirmed B.C.'s strong credit rating.

Unemployment

Employment and Unemployment - Updated March 11, 2011 The province’s unemployment rate stood at 8.8 per cent in February 2011. Compared to 12 months ago, employment in B.C. has increased by 14,200 jobs. More > Wages in B.C. - Updated March 11, 2011 The average weekly wage in B.C. in February 2011 was $828.91, comparable to the national average of $832.58. For B.C. youth between the ages of 15 and 24, the average weekly wage was $400.35—third highest in Canada.

Gold

Gold is found in ores made up of rock with very small or microscopic particles of gold. This gold ore is often found together with quartz or sulfide minerals such as Fool's Gold, which is a pyrite. Gold's atomic number of 79 makes it one of the higher atomic number elements which occur naturally. Like all elements with atomic numbers larger than iron, gold is thought to have been formed from a supernova nucleosynthesis process.

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Silver

Silver has been used for thousands of years for ornaments and utensils, for trade, and as the basis for many monetary systems. Its value as a precious metal was long considered second only to gold. The word "silver" appears in Anglo-Saxon in various spellings such as seolfor and siolfor. During World War II, the short supply of copper led to the substitution of silver in many industrial applications.

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Copper

Copper has been in use at least 10,000 years, but more than 95% of all copper ever mined and smelted has been extracted since 1900. As with many natural resources, the total amount of copper on Earth is vast (around 1014 tons just in the top kilometer of Earth's crust, or about 5 million years worth at the current rate of extraction). However, only a tiny fraction of these reserves is economically viable, given present-day prices and technologies

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Cobalt

Cobalt occurs in copper and nickel minerals and in combination with sulfur and arsenic in the sulfidic cobaltite (CoAsS), safflorite (CoAs2) and skutterudite (CoAs3) minerals. The mineral cattierite is similar to pyrite and occurs together with vaesite in the copper deposits of the Katanga Province. Cobalt is not found as a native metal but is mainly obtained as a by-product of nickel and copper mining activities.

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Lead

Roman lead pipes often bore the insignia of Roman emperors. Lead plumbing in the Latin West may have been continued beyond the age of Theoderic the Great into the medieval period. Many Roman "pigs" (ingots) of lead figure in Derbyshire lead mining history and in the history of the industry in other English centers. The Romans also used lead in molten form to secure iron pins that held together large limestone blocks in buildings.

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Zinc

Various isolated examples of the use of impure zinc in ancient times have been discovered. A possibly prehistoric statuette containing 87.5% zinc was found in a Dacian archaeological site in Transylvania (modern Romania). Ornaments made of alloys that contain 80–90% zinc with lead, iron, antimony, and other metals making up the remainder, have been found that are 2500 years old.

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