Thank you.
Good morning, Mr. Chair and committee members. My name is Tara Christie. I serve on the board of directors of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada. I'm also the chair of the finance and taxation committee of the PDAC. I'm the president of a private business, Gimlex Gold Mines, which is based in Dawson City here in the Yukon. I'm also a director of various other public and private companies operating in the mining and exploration business.
I'm here with Philip Bousquet, the PDAC's senior program adviser. We're here to talk to you about the mining and exploration industry.
First of all, welcome to the Yukon. As a Yukoner, I thank you for coming here and also thank you for inviting us to appear before you. I grew up in the mining and exploration business, and despite my father's best advice I continued in the business.
I'm proud to report that mineral exploration is thriving here in the Yukon, with estimates showing that our activity is up from $150 million, which was spent in 2010, to around $300 million this year. That's a significant increase for the Yukon. Both here and across Canada, mineral exploration and the mining business is the lifeblood of small rural communities, particularly those that don't have other industries to sustain them.
Throughout the recession that we experienced, exploration and mining companies have continued to invest in Canadian projects, creating jobs and new businesses that support the mining industry. Many of these businesses are aboriginal owned and operated and employ aboriginal and first nations employees. This leads to new opportunities throughout the country.
Our mining industry is a story of success and a fundamental driver of Canada's economy, employing over 306,000 people and accounting for 3.5% of Canada's GDP. The industry also pays $5.5 billion in government taxes and royalties.
Mineral exploration is the important first step in the mining cycle and Canada has a number of features that attract investment. We have great geology. We have a skilled and knowledgeable workforce. We have new training initiatives that bring people into the industry. And importantly, we have a competitive tax system that includes flow-through share financing and the mineral exploration tax credit, the METC. Both of these are unique to Canada. This is important, as exploration companies have no production revenue. They rely on investors who are willing to support the high-risk activities of exploration and know that with a lot of effort and some good fortune, projects can succeed and become new mines.
We compete in Canada with other countries for exploration dollars. Many companies have projects both in Canada and elsewhere in the world. The money goes to the best projects. The benefits of flow-through shares is that the money raised can only be spent in Canada. It's a program that allows many projects to continue when markets are unstable and money's hard to get.
Since 2000, the flow-through share program has been supplemented by the METC, the mineral exploration tax credit, which provides a 15% tax credit on top of the flow-through share deduction. During this period, since 2000, Canada has moved into and has retained its position as the top destination for exploration dollars, with between 16% and 19% of the global exploration expenditures being spent in Canada. In an average year the mineral exploration tax credit investors provide companies with $400 million in new financing. And this is spent on grassroots exploration in Canada. The money is spent here, ensuring that if a mine is discovered, the jobs and other economic opportunities benefit Canadians directly.
I'm going to turn it over to Philip to talk about our association.