Pam Schwann is the Executive Director of the Saskatchewan Mining Association, she says there are 27 different mining areas in Saskatchewan with most of them in rural and remote areas.
After oil and gas, mining is number 2 as far as industry and resources in Saskatchewan.
Here in the southeast, coal burned in thermal plants at Estevan and Coronach accounts for approximately 60% of the province's base load capacity electrical power generation.
Each year, Saskatchewan's mining industry spends more than three billion dollars on wages, goods, services, and other taxes and fees, and employs more than 25,000 people directly and indirectly in over 120 careers.