Thank you very much. Good morning.
It is an important opportunity for us to speak with you this morning. What I would like to do in my seven minutes is to provide you with an overview of who we are, as far as the association is concerned, and with an overview of what the mining industry is doing in British Columbia today. I'll talk to you as well about some of the challenges and opportunities we see going forward.
In terms of what the mining association is, we are the representative of all the operators in British Columbia. This does not include the junior exploration group. It's primarily the operations. That includes coal, metal, industrial minerals, and some of the aggregate producers.
We have been around since 1901. Our primary priority, our primary objective, is to not only raise awareness about mining in the province but to share information and educate the public. We also educate ourselves about what some of the concerns about mining are among the general public. So it's really about dialogue.
You have a list of our members. Again, that includes all the operators as well as companies that have advanced projects in the province.
In approximately the middle of May this year, we released our latest statistics on what the industry is doing. This information is based on 2011 data gathered by some of our members. It does not include all the companies, so it's not a full picture of what the industry is doing.
In B.C., from the 19 major operations we have in some of the advanced projects, the mining industry contributed about $10 billion to the B.C. economy. That is a 25% increase from 2010.
When we look at the numbers in more detail, a good 80% of that 25% increase came from coal in the southeast and in the northeast of the province. That increase in mining revenues also translated into an increase in capital expenditures, an increase in mineral exploration, and an increase in payments to governments. But the real story for us is the increase in job creation and average salary. In B.C. right now, the average salary for someone working in the mining sector is about $115,000, which is a significant number in comparison to the $65,000 or $67,000 for the rest of the population.
That's really where our focus is right now. It is about how we find opportunities to create some common ground that will continue to allow benefit creation in the province for British Columbians. We are also interested in knowing how we increase public participation in the process.
Focusing strictly on northern British Columbia, which I believe is the focus of your exercise this morning, if we look at the whole province, there are about 30 projects in process, at one stage or another, right now. Over the next 10 years, if all of those projects go through, we're looking at about $30 billion in investment in the north alone. I'm talking about north of Smithers. In the northwest, it's about $20 billion and 6,300 jobs. In the northeast, because there is still a lot of development going on and not as many operating mines, it's about $2 billion in investment and about 2,000 jobs. Again, that's where the focus is for us, and it will continue to be over the next little while.
The northwest transmission line obviously is going to be a key player in the ability of some of these projects in the northwest to go through. We're looking forward to that being on target, as well, for 2014. The next new mine that is going to open, the Red Chris project in northwest British Columbia, will be the first industrial customer of the northwest transmission line.
Those opportunities come with challenges. The challenges can also be seen as an opportunity for the industry to engage in a different kind of dialogue, as I said, with stakeholders and primarily with aboriginal communities.
In terms of federal-provincial relationships, the duplication and overlap in project approvals and environmental assessments have been of concern to the province of B.C. for a number of years now. We are encouraged to see there is a move in the right direction when it comes to the elimination of duplication, and actually more consistency in timelines associated with that process.
We need to be clear so that it is known in the public that what we're looking for is predictability in the process. We're looking for clarity in terms of how decisions are made, who makes them, and how long they're going to take. Once I enter the process, I need to know when I'm going to get out of it. Whether it's a yes or a no, the point is to have clarity and transparency in that process. Timelines and clarity in the scope are our primary interests.
There are all sorts of opportunities to talk about what that would look like on the ground, but the general intent of the changes to the environmental assessment process is something we're very supportive of. With that, there are other legislative and policy changes that we also think are an important opportunity for the industry to engage in dialogue with government. In terms of the Fisheries Act, they would include effluent regulations, etc. I don't think these are simple solutions. It does create an opportunity to talk more about what this would actually look like on the ground. Some of those changes are not necessarily things the industry would be pushing for, but certainly the opportunity to talk about them is what we're interested in.
I don't think we can talk about improvements in regulation and improvements in process without talking about aboriginal relations. This is something we're very interested in from the perspective of how we can engage meaningfully and what that means. What is the role of the industry versus the role of the crown in terms of meeting its duty to consult? What is the role of industry in terms of benefits going towards aboriginal communities? We do have a social responsibility towards that. There needs to be clarity around that, in terms of when my responsibility stops versus the government's. That's also an opportunity we haven't explored to the fullest yet.
I'm conscious of the time, so I'm going to leave you with the thought that the industry is very interested in a different kind of conversation. We are interested in finding common ground. The association has been reaching out to those groups that are expressing tremendous concern about some of the changes. We want to make sure they understand, as well, where we're coming from when it comes to finding efficiencies and transparency.
We're here hopefully to address some of your concerns, as well as some of your questions about what that means for us. The industry is committed to social responsibility and our own social licence. I think we've demonstrated that by some of the measures in the reporting commitments we've made with the Mining Association of Canada towards sustainable mining initiatives.
I look forward to your comments and questions. I hope the information I've provided has been of some assistance to you.