This Is Mining

What are the elements that make up our industry?  Is it the drilling and the digging, the machinery and pulling of essential minerals and metals from the Earth? Or has it become something greater? 

To celebrate our 100th Anniversary in 2020, the Ontario Mining Association created #ThisIsMining, a campaign that took a fresh look at the role of mining in our lives and in our province. The achievements, the people, the progress, and the legacy.

When someone asks, “What is mining?” - we know that mining is all of this:

  • Today’s technology.

  • Inclusiveness and diversity.

  • Care for our planet.

  • A life of adventure.

  • A legacy of community building in Ontario.

Mining has always been about discovery. But the more we mine its depths for the elements that drive our modern world, the more we discover what we have become. As individuals. As a community. As an industry. 

Join us in discovering all that mining in Ontario has become and all it has to offer.

Watch a sizzle reel of campaign highlights:

 

 

 

 

The Lesley Hampton Fashion Award in Partnership with the Ontario Mining Association was established through the support of the Ontario Mining Association and its members, including Glencore, Alamos Gold, Impala Canada and Wesdome.

Offered through Toronto Metropolitan University's (formerly Ryerson University) School of Fashion, the award recognized an Indigenous student with ties to Ontario who demonstrated a commitment to preserving and celebrating Indigenous arts and culture through fashion.

Recipients

  • Brandon Morin Fox (2021–2024) – A Plains Cree, Métis, and Two-Spirit designer from Piapot First Nation whose work explores fashion as a platform for storytelling, advocacy, and Indigenous cultural preservation.
  • Anna Forrest (2025) – An Onyotaá;ka/Kanyen'kehá:ka (Six Nations) fashion student, model, and creative whose work centres culture, heritage, sustainability, and community while challenging conventional fashion narratives.

Lesley Hampton, a #ThisIsMining campaign ambassador, is dedicated to inspiring the next decade of Indigenous fashion talent. Inspired by her connection to the mining industry, Lesley’s copper dress turned heads at 2020 Toronto Fashion Week and was sponsored by the OMA as part of the #ThisIsMining initiative.