At the same time, large modern mines can make money extracting minerals from low grade deposits. Small mines relied on small quantities of high-grade ore.

To give an example, a small mine on the north slope of Glacier Gulch near Smithers mined a total of 165 tonnes of ore between 1933 and 1939. The ore yielded 297 ounces of gold and 1,197 ounces of silver.

Compare that to the Equity Silver mine near Houston. In the years from 1981 to 1994, the mine produced over 7 million ounces of silver and over 500,000 ounces of gold.

Coal seams near Telkwa have been mined from 1900 to 1985. Total production from 1944 to 1985 was only 389,400 tons. Compare that to the mineable reserves of 46 million tonnes.

Silver Standard Mine near Two-Mile in Hazelton operated from 1913 to 1989. Silver production was 7.5 million ounces, five times the amount of silver produced by the Duthie Mine, but only ten percent of the silver production from the Equity Silver mine near Houston.