Annual Mineral Production Survey - Contract Drilling Operations

Detailed information for 2022

The Annual Mineral Production Survey - Contract Drilling Operations is a survey of drilling operations conducted by contractors primarily for the testing of deposits in Canada.

Data release - Scheduled for February 23, 2024

• Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s)
• Description
• Data sources and methodology
• Data accuracy

Description

The Annual Mineral Production Survey - Contract Drilling Operations is a survey of establishments engaged in providing support services for the mining and quarrying of minerals in Canada.

The purpose of this survey is to obtain information on total metres drilled, revenues, salaries and wages, as well as the average number of employees for all establishments engaged in drilling for minerals, other than oil and gas and coal, on a contract or fee basis.

Reference period: Calendar year

Subjects

• Environment
• Manufacturing
• Natural resources
• Non-metallic mineral and metal

Data sources and methodology

Target population

The Annual Mineral Production Survey - Contract Drilling Operations targets all establishments engaged as a primary or a secondary activity in drilling for metallic and non-metallic minerals, except fuels, on a contract or fee basis.

The contract drilling establishments for this survey are classified according to the code 213117 of the North American Industry Classification System.

Instrument design

Data for the Annual Mineral Production Survey - Contract Drilling Operations are collected using a fillable PDF questionnaire. The questionnaire is sent to respondents through Statistics Canada's electronic questionnaire portal.

Sampling

This survey is a census with a cross-sectional design.

All establishments within the scope of drilling for metallic and non-metallic minerals in Canada are selected in this survey.

Data sources

Data collection for this reference period: 2023-05-03 to 2023-10-03

Responding to this survey is mandatory.

Data are collected directly from survey respondents.

Data are collected through a fillable PDF questionnaire sent via the electronic questionnaire portal, while providing respondents with the alternative option of replying by telephone interview. Follow-up for non-response and data validation may be conducted by telephone and e-mail.

View the Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s) .

Error detection

Error detection is an integral part of both data collection and processing activities. Data submitted through the electronic questionnaires are subject to extensive edit processes, both by subject-matter analysts and by automated edits within the production system. These edits identify potential errors based on year-over-year changes in key variables, totals, and ratios that exceed tolerance thresholds, as well as identify consistency issues in collected data (e.g. a total does not equal the sum of its parts). When errors are found, they are corrected using the failed edit follow-up process during collection. Extreme values are also flagged as potential outliers, using automated methods based on the distribution of the collected information. Following their detection, these values are assessed for their reliability. When required, the respondent may be contacted to confirm the data. Manual review of other units may lead to additional potential outliers being identified.

Imputation

Data for the Annual Mineral Production Survey - Contract Drilling Operations are imputed to take into account partial survey data and non-response.

When non-response occurs or when reported data are considered incorrect during the error detection phase, imputation is used to fill in the missing information or modify the incorrect information.

Data are imputed for respondents that fail to provide critical information such as revenues. Likewise, imputation is used when any of the following key variables such as revenue and employment data are missing from the questionnaire.

Different methods of imputation may be used to complete a questionnaire, including manual changes made by an analyst after the respondent is contacted to confirm the data and pro-rating relevant historical data with or without a calculated trend.

Imputation generates a complete and coherent microdata file that covers all survey variables.

Estimation

All units in the observed population are surveyed. Estimation of totals is done by simple aggregation of the values of all units that are found in the domain of estimation. Estimates are computed for several domains of interest at the national, provincial and territorial level.

Quality evaluation

The final survey data sets are subject to rigorous analysis to ensure comparability with patterns observed in the historical data series. Information available from other sources such as various provincial and territorial departments as well as other statistical agencies are also used to assess quality and consistency of the data series. Supplementary information from industry news and company reports and press releases supports trend analysis and data coherence in order to put the data in context.

Disclosure control

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects that could identify any person, business, or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent or as permitted by the Statistics Act. Various confidentiality rules are applied to all data that are released or published to prevent the publication or disclosure of any information deemed confidential. If necessary, data are suppressed to prevent direct or residual disclosure of identifiable data.

Revisions and seasonal adjustment

This methodology type does not apply to this survey.

Data accuracy

The response rate for this survey was 67% for reference year 2021 data collection.