Quebec has an abundance of natural resources, including its forests, mines and renewable energy. It also has over a million lakes and rivers, which occupy 21 percent of Quebec.Continue Reading
The forest is the backbone of the economy for almost 250 municipalities of Quebec. There are 400 primary processing plants that provide approximately 80,000 jobs. The forest industry produces timber products and pulp and paper products. Forests cover nearly 293,900 square miles of the province, and 90.5 percent of those forests are publicly owned.
Quebec has about 30 mines, making it a major producer of iron, zinc, nickel, copper, diamonds and gold. It also extracts minerals such as chrysotile, graphite, ilmenite, mica, salt, silica, sulfur, steatite and peat. Quebec is one of the top producers of metallic minerals in Canada. The value of Quebec's mining shipments is $6.8 billion. The mining industry creates 16,000 direct jobs and 14,000 indirect jobs in Quebec, and only 40 percent of Quebec's mineral potential is known.
Quebec is known for its clean and renewable energy, and 97 percent of the energy it produces is green energy. An organization called Hydro-Quebec, owned by the government, researches ways to produce more renewable energy.Learn more about Canada