Employment - Downstream Mineral Processing Sector

Total employment in this sector is estimated at 13,500 people in 2004. The Mining and Minerals Division developed this employment estimate using the B.C. Manufacturers Directory, information from national surveys and direct company contact.

The Downstream Mineral Processing sector is categorized by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). The 39 categories used include companies that produce a wide diversity of mineral products and a demand a broad range of technical, professional and managerial skills, for example, including engineers, scientists and business managers, as well as a need for accounting, financial, marketing and other professionals.

Some mining operations include downstream processing at their mine site (e.g. coal wash plants) and do not separate sales and employee counts from these combined operations. In order to avoid double accounting in these cases, sales and employee numbers are accounted for in their respective mining sectors.