It's not very often that we stop and think about where our products come from. This week officials are asking you to think about everything that the mining industry provides for the prairies. 

For the past week, the Saskatchewan Mining Association(SMA) has been all over the province promoting what they do and hosting various events to show people of all ages why the industry is critical in our day to day lives. 

"People take for granted where the products come from that they use in their daily lives and this helps us trace it back to how do we source those materials? Where do they come from? Where do our products that we mine... how are they used? It just lets us provide a bit of a lens on the mining sector this week," explained Pam Schwann, President of the SMA. 

There are roughly 25 different mining operations in the prairies, and Schwann said as she was driving to the various events this week she was reminded once again how big of a player this sector is.

"Mining touches pretty much every community in Saskatchewan; we employ over 30,000 people directly and indirectly. We also pay a significant amount of money in terms of royalties and taxes and account for about 6% of the provincial GDP. It's hard to go anywhere into any community in Saskatchewan and not have people that are either involved in mining directly or indirectly, so it's a pretty critical piece of Saskatchewan's economy."

Moose Jaw will be hosting the 50th annual Emergency Response Mine Rescue Skills Competition for the first time.

"It will be held at Mosaic Place with our fire event held out at the Exhibition Grounds. We're really excited about it; our competition committee thinks that Mosaic Place is the perfect venue for our spectators to come out and watch the competition as well."

The competition starts just before 6 am on Saturday morning at Mosaic Place and everything will conclude around 4 pm with many educational and family activities taking place. Over on the north side of town at the Exhibition Grounds, events will commence at 6:30 am and will wrap up at 2 pm for the firefighting event.

There will be 16 teams in action during these events and admission is free for anyone wanting to take in the local Saskatchewan Mining Week events.