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Canada's natural resource wealth, 2012

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Released: 2013-12-06

The value of Canada's natural resource assets stood at $785 (correction) billion in 2012, down 30% from 2011. The decrease, which came on the heels of a 29% increase in the previous year, was a reflection of lower prices for Canada's natural resources. In the decade from 2002 to 2012, the value of these assets increased at an annual average rate of 3.5% (correction).

Energy resources accounted for 56% of the value of all natural resource assets in 2012, followed by minerals (29%) and timber (14%).

Energy resource assets consist of coal, crude bitumen, crude oil and natural gas. After increasing by 32% (correction) in the previous year, the value of these assets fell 35% from their 2011 level to $442 (correction) billion in 2012. This decrease mainly reflected lower prices for coal, crude oil, crude bitumen and, in particular, natural gas.

The value of mineral assets declined 28% from a year earlier to $230 billion in 2012, after increasing by nearly 40% in 2011. Within the mineral resources group, base metal and potash assets accounted for the largest portion of the decline in 2012. In general, lower prices for mineral assets compared with the previous year contributed to the decline.

The trend for timber assets continued to move downward (-6.1%).

Chart 1  Chart 1: Natural resource assets, 2002 to 2012 (correction) - Description and data table
Natural resource assets, 2002 to 2012 (correction)

Chart 1: Natural resource assets, 2002 to 2012 (correction) - Description and data table

  Note to readers

Data for this release came from the Natural Resource Stock Accounts. These accounts measure the value of natural resource assets; for example, reserves of metal ore in the ground or accessible stands of timber in forests. For mineral and energy resources, reserves are defined by the amount of proven and probable stocks that are economical to extract using available technology. For timber resources, only the stocks that are physically accessible and available for harvesting are accounted for.

Methodological changes

Statistics Canada has implemented some important methodological changes to the Natural Resource Stock Accounts program in order to align with the new international standard for environmental accounting, the System of Environmental Economic Accounting 2012. Data from 2001 to 2011 on the value of Canada's natural resource assets were revised downward by 22% on average, as a result of these methodological changes. Downward revisions (on average) ranged from 14% for mineral resources to 23% for timber resources and 24% for energy resources.

For more information, see "Methodological changes made to the Natural Resource Stock Accounts as of reference year 2012."

Contact information

For more information, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca).

To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Michael Wright (613-951-0321; michael.wright@statcan.gc.ca), Environment Accounts and Statistics Division.

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