The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry.
VANCOUVER — It’s been a tough few years for mineral explorers globally, and the junior markets in B.C. have been especially hard hit by stingy capital markets and industry-wide budget cuts. These circumstances set a rocky stage for the Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia’s (AME BC) annual Mineral Exploration Roundup conference in Vancouver in late January, but according to president and CEO Gavin Dirom there are reasons for industry optimism.
To begin, there are some basic business metrics that AME BC relies on to determine how Vancouver’s third-largest annual trade convention is trending. The 32nd Roundup attracted more than 6,700 participants from 35 countries, blowing past the 5,000-delegate milestone, and up 100 from last year. Dirom added that, despite the industry’s challenging conditions, event sponsorship remained right on target.
“Of course exploration expenditures are down globally, as there just isn’t the capital to pursue these extensive programs,” Dirom said during an interview on the conference floor. “The big trend to watch, however, is the percentage of expenditures per jurisdiction. I think by that metric it’s quite interesting from a B.C. context.”
This approach removes variables like commodity prices and related factors, he said, and focuses on where the industry is willing to invest in exploration. “Obviously we’re down [in B.C.] overall year-on-year, but over a fifteen year spread the jurisdictional comparative analysis indicates we’re attracting more of the investment than we ever have. It speaks to a government that’s welcoming and a place that has real mineral development potential,” noting that B.C. has attracted between 15% and 20% of Canada’s exploration investment over the past four years.
And one of the big themes at Roundup was how to best position the industry once what’s widely viewed as a cyclical downturn in commodity prices has run its course and prices recover. Dirom said he’s witnessing the natural evolution of the B.C.-based exploration and development sector, which is facing challenges on two fronts.
First and foremost is the hardship of the current economic environment, while the second is growing First Nation empowerment at home and the critical task of achieving long-standing social license to operate globally.
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