Conference program

November 23, 2011
Session 3
9:40 a.m.

Geoscience knowledge in Québec: Its value, its impact, and its future
Sylvain Lacroix, Charles Maurice, Daniel Lamothe and Charles Roy (MRNF)

Geoscience knowledge represents a highly valuable social asset to support the sustainable development of our mineral resources and our territory. In Québec, geoscience information gathered during activities carried out by government agencies, mining companies and universities is integrated into the SIGEOM geomining information system, which represents an information heritage for which the replacement cost is estimated at 3.9 billion dollars. This precious source of information is used to support private decision-makers looking to invest in exploration, but also serves another purpose, within the scope of government planning of various activities related to land use.

Government inventories (geology, geochemistry, geophysics, metallogeny) completed across Québec account for less than 10% of the replacement cost of SIGEOM, as opposed to more than 90% for work done by mining companies. However, several documented historical examples show that the acquisition, by government, of new geoscience information has resulted in mineral exploration work and ultimately led to the discovery of new mineral resources, especially in poorly-known areas. A comparison of investments in public geoscience and private mineral exploration in areas targeted under the Near North and the Far North programs also illustrates the leverage that new geoscience knowledge represents for exploration investments. More recently, new geoscience knowledge acquisition programs identified numerous direct (based on geological observations) and indirect (geochemical and geophysical anomalies) targets, which upon publication led to the acquisition of new mining titles.

Over the last decade, the development of predictive ore deposit models, GIS tools, and the increasing density of data in SIGEOM have made it possible to assess the potential for certain metals and minerals in specific areas. Mineral potential assessment studies aim to identify favourable zones for the discovery of mineral resources, but also facilitate the identification of less favourable areas that may be better suited for the creation of protected areas, as well as emphasize gaps in available knowledge and thus orient future geoscience surveys.

The Québec government has recently allocated a ten-year budget for new geoscience knowledge acquisition in order to stimulate, orient and support the search for new mineral resources, namely in lesser-known areas such as Northern Québec. New geoscience knowledge will also increasingly be acquired to help address social and environmental issues related to sustainable development, for example concerning public land use, groundwater protection, global warming, etc.