(Rouyn-Noranda) For 100 years now, the mining industry has been at the heart of the economic development of Abitibi-Témiscamingue. Groups such as Barrick Gold, Canadian Malartic and Agnico Eagle have succeeded one another in exploiting major gold deposits, thanks in large part to the genius and resourcefulness of many Quebec SMEs that have supported them in their quest.
What struck me during my first visit to Abitibi was the number of companies manufacturing, repairing or supplying equipment of all kinds that can be found both at the entrance and in the heart of most of the towns that we pass through, from Val-d’Or to Rouyn-Noranda, via Amos or Malartic.
I had highlighted this surprise in a column I wrote during a report on the activities of the open-pit gold mine in the heart of Malartic. This time, I decided to take a closer look at these SMEs that seem to have come out of nowhere, but which play an essential role in the development of the region.
It should first be remembered that mining activity accounts for 35.8% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of Abitibi-Témiscamingue and that these 3.3 billion in economic activities represent 31.4% of all the spinoffs from the Quebec mining industry.
The mining sector accounts for 24% of jobs in Abitibi-Témiscamingue and the SMEs that gravitate around and inside the region’s mines employ as many workers as the mining companies themselves.
“The know-how, genius and creativity of our SMEs in the mineral sector in Abitibi are at the heart of the Mining Innovation Zone (ZIM) which is to be created soon and which will allow us to further internationalize our networks and our expertise,” believes Alain Beauséjour, President of the MISA Group.
MISA is the center of excellence in exploration and mining whose mandate is to promote the digital transformation of companies in the mining sector and to participate in particular in the development of autonomous mining.
The Abitibi-Témiscamingue Mining Innovation Zone wants to develop an ecosystem in Rouyn-Noranda that will promote the flow of innovation between teaching centers, businesses in the sector and mining companies in order to become a world reference center in the field, summarizes Jean Séverin Bouda, project manager of the ZIM.
Jean Séverin Bouda reminds me that there are more than 410 companies that gravitate around the mining sector in the region. We present to you some of them that have developed their own expertise, both in the field of infrastructure construction and in the manufacturing of advanced equipment.