I never imagined I would end up working in mineral exploration. Not because I thought I could not do it, but because I did not know it was an option.
Growing up, the career conversation usually came with a familiar shortlist: doctor, engineer or lawyer. I chose public policy instead and discovered that taking a chance on something unfamiliar can sometimes lead you exactly where you belong.
Earlier this year, I took another unexpected turn when I joined the Association for Mineral Exploration (AME) for my co-op work term.
Walking in, I wondered what someone studying public policy had to do with rocks. I assumed mineral exploration was a closed world for geologists, engineers and people who had grown up around mining. I did not have a technical background or a family connection to the industry. I was entering a sector I knew almost nothing about.
A few months later, I have a very different question: How did I not know about this sooner?
Understanding the upstream search for critical minerals
Like many people, I used to think mining began when someone decided to build a mine. But the process starts years, sometimes decades before that, with mineral exploration.
I came to think of exploration as the detective work that happens long before a mine is ever considered. People spend years studying the land, gathering geological and environmental information, testing samples and deciding whether a discovery is worth investigating further.
Most exploration projects will never become mines. That is not a failure of the process; it is the purpose of the process. Exploration provides the evidence needed to understand what is underground and make informed decisions about what should, or should not, move forward.
Once I started looking at the world through that lens, the dots became difficult to ignore.
The phone, tablet or laptop you are using to read this depends on dozens of mined materials, and British Columbia is well positioned to help supply many of them. Copper carries electricity through the wiring, circuit boards and charging cables that keep our devices running. B.C. is Canada’s largest copper producer, and in 2025 copper overtook gold as the province’s top exploration target for the first time. Copper is also essential to the electrification needed for electric vehicles, charging stations, renewable-energy projects and the expanded power grid that will move more homes, transportation and industry away from fossil fuels.
B.C. is also Canada’s only producer of molybdenum, and produces zinc, silver, gold and lead. It has strong potential for other critical minerals such as nickel, cobalt, graphite, tantalum and rare earth elements. At a time of uncertainty around U.S. trade, B.C.’s mineral resources create an opportunity to build stronger Canadian supply chains closer to home and to supply the materials needed for a cleaner, more electrified future.
Linking supply chains to national economic resilience
These materials do not simply appear when a technology company announces its newest product.
We regularly talk about building more affordable homes, expanding clean energy, strengthening Canadian manufacturing and protecting our national security. These can sound like separate political buzzwords, but each one has a supply chain underneath it, and every supply chain begins with raw materials.
The sector continues to face challenges. Permitting can be slow and unpredictable, access to remote areas is often limited, and exploration companies may be uncertain whether they will be able to reach or work on their claims at all.
Refusing to look for minerals does not eliminate our need for them. It simply leaves us more dependent on other countries, including jurisdictions where environmental standards, working conditions and supply chains may be less transparent.
B.C.’s record exploration year is more than a positive headline; it shows the province gaining ground on larger jurisdictions at a time when investment elsewhere was falling. Exploration spending rose 36 per cent to a record $751 million in 2025, even as investment fell in Ontario and Quebec and global exploration budgets declined for a third consecutive year. B.C. did not simply benefit from a stronger market; it attracted capital when investors were becoming more selective. The broader mining sector supports more than 40,000 jobs in communities throughout the province.
Opening doors for multi-disciplinary careers
Mineral exploration and mining are part of our future, and building that future will require people in careers that extend far beyond geology.
The sector needs environmental scientists, technicians, engineers and tradespeople, but it also needs people working in technology, finance, communications, Indigenous relations, community engagement and, yes, public policy.
I suspect there are many students, newcomers and people considering a career change who never thought to look here. They may be looking for work and long-term opportunities without realizing that this sector has room for them.
That is what connected me to AME’s Minerals for Tomorrow campaign. At its core, the campaign asks people to look further upstream. The conversation about Canada’s economic and technological future should not begin when construction starts. It should begin with the people, knowledge, skills and investment needed to discover what is possible in the first place.
A few months ago, I was the person asking, “Why should I care about minerals?”
Now I understand that this is not really a story about rocks. It is a story about where our homes, technology, infrastructure and future industries come from. It is also a story about careers that many people, myself included, were never taught to consider.
Someone gave me the opportunity to step into this industry and see it for myself. I would like to hold that door open for the next person. Start with the device in your hand and follow its materials back to their source. You might discover a much bigger story about Canada’s future, and perhaps even a place for yourself in it.
Zena Hamood is a co-op policy analyst at the Association for Mineral Exploration and a Master of Public Policy candidate at Simon Fraser University. The views expressed are her own.
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