You might think the mining sector and the beer business have little in common. Bryan Cox knows different: both are technical, highly regulated and people-driven industries, says the president and CEO of the Mining Association of BC (MABC), who led public affairs for Western Canada at Molson Coors Canada before joining the provincial advocacy group in 2014.
Alberta native Cox, who holds a political science degree from the University of Calgary, is no stranger to bureaucracy or the resource sector. His father ran a food services business that catered to oil and gas companies, and from 2002 to 2006 he worked for the B.C. government as a public affairs officer and ministerial assistant.
He then returned to his home province for a stint as government relations manager with Edmonton-based Epcor Utilities Inc. Promoted from VP of corporate affairs at the 116-year-old MABC this past May, Cox aims to boost the B.C. mining industry’s profile and ability to compete.
What’s your vision for the MABC?
There are two things I want to focus on. One is competitiveness, and two is mining awareness. Competitiveness is very important because for all our blessings, we’re a small, trade-dependent jurisdiction of four million people that competes in a global world.
My focus in that regard is to get to the most competitive business strategies and taxation models to ensure that investment can come to B.C. We need those fundamentals to help us compete against Chile for copper and Australia for steelmaking coal, which are our two predominant commodities.
For the rest of this interview: https://www.bcbusiness.ca/A-conversation-with-Mining-Association-of-BC-president-Bryan-Cox