Minerals in a Suitcase! Minalliance Supports Quebec Tour of Canadian Museum of Nature Travelling Exhibition

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - June 3, 2015) - The Canadian Museum of Nature's latest "suitcase" exhibition about the diversity of minerals will tour Quebec for two years thanks to a $50,000 sponsorship from Minalliance, the Quebec mining industry's communications fund. The tour will start in September 2015, with specimens and exhibit components packed into a large portable suitcase designed to travel easily from venue to venue.

"We are extremely grateful that Minalliance has chosen to support the Quebec tour of our latest suitcase exhibition," says Meg Beckel, President and CEO of the Canadian Museum of Nature. "Our compact suitcase series is a fun and educational way to share the museum's expertise about Canada's natural history."

The Minerals suitcase exhibition will be full of surprises. The contents, which fit on two six-foot-long tables, will include activity boxes with real minerals specimens from the museum's national collection, as well as hands-on activities, graphic panels, activity sheets, games, books and videos. All will allow users to learn more about the diversity, form and properties of minerals, as well as their uses in everyday life.

"We are really pleased to participate in this initiative with the Canadian Museum of Nature. This is an excellent way to communicate with the public about the mining sector", says Jean M. Gagné, President of Minalliance. "With this fun and interesting suitcase exhibition, adults and children will learn how the mineral industry positively impacts their day-to-day lives."

Since its debut in 1973, the Canadian Museum of Nature's travelling exhibitions program has reached millions of Canadians in every province and territory. The suitcase exhibitions can easily be displayed in museums, community centres, schools, libraries and other educational, public or private institutions. Other topics covered in the series of suitcase exhibitions are genomics and genetics, dinosaurs and Ice Age mammals, birds, the Monarch butterfly, whales and climate change.

About the Canadian Museum of Nature

The Canadian Museum of Nature is Canada's national museum of natural history and natural sciences. The museum provides evidence-based insights, inspiring experiences and meaningful engagement with nature's past, present and future. It achieves this through scientific research, a 10.5 million specimen collection, education programs, signature and travelling exhibitions, and a dynamic web site, nature.ca.

About Minalliance

Minalliance, created in October 2010, brings together a large number of Quebec and Canadian mining exploration and production companies, suppliers of goods and services, industry associations and other stakeholders. Its mission is to inform and enter into dialogue with the public in order to further increase its knowledge on the benefits of the mining industry and demonstrate its contribution to the sustainable development of Quebec. To that end, in February 2014, Minalliance launched MinesQC.com, the online space for questions and answers, information and conversations about the Quebec mining industry.