• Energy: Primary Divisions and Guiding Principles

• Mining: Primary Divisions and Guiding Principles

At the Canada Science and Technology Museum, the subjects of energy and mining are included in one curatorial area.

Several chapters of Canadian history, from the early eighteenth century to the present, illustrate the reliance on human, animal, hydraulic, hydro-electric and nuclear energy sources in the development of natural resources.

The first representative ironmaking industry in Canada, the Saint-Maurice Ironworks, operated from 1730 to 1883. Specializing in the production of cast and wrought iron, it utilized the water power of the St. Maurice River, local supplies of wood, bog iron ore and stone from neighbouring regions for the operation of the charcoal-fired blast furnace. Since the first decades of the twentieth century, electricity has been the main source of power in the mining of coal in Nova Scotia and British Columbia, and iron and gold in northern Ontario and Quebec.

Consequently, the Energy and Mining curatorial area is devoted to the study of technologies related to various energy forms, and their interaction with the raw materials. Research carried out to date emphasizes two aspects: the fundamental role that development of these resources has played in the transformation of Canada, particularly where the industrial, technological, and socio-economic development of the country is concerned; and the impact on the natural and human environment.

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