Thanks for the opportunity to provide a snapshot. Mining provides about 6% directly to Saskatchewan's economy. That's direct employment and not spinoff value-added. There are over 30,500 people directly and indirectly employed by the Saskatchewan mining industry. There's additional information in my package, but the royalties and taxes are over a billion dollars, and over $2.5 billion is spent annually on wages, goods and services purchased by the industry. It's significant.
The main commodities that we mine in Saskatchewan—and we're world leaders—are potash and uranium. We provide 30% of the world's potash and 22% of the world's uranium. Both have been under extreme pressure from price declines. Uranium is down about $22 a pound right now from highs of around $80 a few years ago. It's the same with potash. We were above $800 a tonne, but now we're around $230 a tonne, so there are significant price challenges on that front.
Fortunately, the world is looking for improved quality of life, particularly the middle class, so the use of potash to help support better food production and the uranium to provide cleaner energy are things that have good long-term fundamentals.