Lucky Sudbury, Far North Act and Mining Industry Terrible Image Speech – by Stan Sudol (November 8, 2011)

Stan Sudol gave the keynote address at the Ontario Prospectors Association’s 2011 Ontario Exploration & Geoscience Symposium – Sudbury, Ontario – November 8, 2011

Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based communications consultant and mining columnist. www.republicofmining.com stan.sudol@republicofmining.com

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Sudbury: The luckiest city in Canada

It’s always great to get back to my hometown.

Way back in 1977, I worked for Inco at their Clarabell Mill complex for a year before going to college. And in 1980, I was a summer student replacement worker at their Frood-Stobie mine.

So I will always be a “Sudbury boy” regardless of where I live.

Without a doubt, Sudbury is this country’s epicenter of mining.

In fact, the Sudbury Basin is the richest mineral district in North America and among the top three hardrock mining regions in the world.

Only South Africa’s Witwatersrand gold region, and their legendary Bushveld platinum complex, can match the concentration and expertise of underground mining here.

We are the luckiest city Canada.

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PDAC NEWS RELEASE: Human Resources Issues Threaten Canada’s Mineral Exploration Supremacy

For Immediate Release

Sept. 30, 2011

To read the complete report click here: Unearthing Possibilities

Canada’s position as the global leader in mineral exploration is at risk because of a human resources triple threat, according to a study released today by the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) and the Mining Industry Human Resources (MiHR) Council.  

Unearthing Possibilities:  Human Resources Challenges and Opportunities in the Canadian Mineral Exploration Sector says Canada’s mineral exploration industry faces challenges on three critical fronts:  a lack of awareness about the exploration sector and its many related career opportunities; a thinning labour pool that is affecting companies’ recruitment efforts; and attrition that sees many versatile, multi-skilled professionals leave the sector in mid-career.

“The worldwide demand for skilled labour in this sector is constantly increasing and driving up the cost of human resources,” says Dr. Scott Jobin-Bevans, PDAC president.  “We have to work harder to attract more Canadians to this industry.”

In an increasingly globalized economy that prizes highly educated, multi-skilled workers, Canada will continue to lose mineral exploration professionals and its decades-long number one ranking in mineral exploration may quickly change. 

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Republic of Mining.com Stan Sudol CBC Radio Sudbury Interview (March 9, 2011)

Wednesday March 9, 2011   A new miner is going to drill the ocean floor for nickel nodules. Offshore oil and gas companies are about to be joined by a mining company extracting nickel and copper. Stan Sudol is a blogger (RepublicOfMining.com) and mining industry watcher in Toronto he fills us in: http://www.cbc.ca/morningnorth/past-episodes/2011/03/09/a-new-miner-is-going-to-drill-the-ocean-floor-for-nickel-nodules-mar-092011/

Glen Nolan – PDAC 1st Vice-President Nation Talk Interview: First Nations and Mining (Sept 12, 2011)

NationTalk is a Aboriginal newswire, employment, event and tender service located in Canada. The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) represents the interests of the Canadian mineral exploration and development industry. Glenn Nolan speaks with Nation Talk about his past experience as the Chief of the Missanabie Cree First Nation, his background in the …

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2011 mineral industry recommendations to Canada’s Energy and Mines Ministers Conference – Kananaskis, Alberta, July 2011

The PDAC, the Mining Association of Canada (MAC) and members of the Canadian Mineral Industry Federation (CMIF) were invited to provide federal, provincial and territorial mines ministers with views and recommendations regarding policy issues of importance to our industry. The CMIF members represent the majority of companies engaged in mineral exploration, mining, and processing – accounting for most of Canada’s production of base and precious metals, uranium, diamonds, metallurgical and thermal coal, potash and mined oil sands.

Tens of Billions of Dollars in New Investment – A Course of Action for Ministers

A Brief to the 68th Mines Ministers’ Conference, Kananaskis Submitted by the Canadian Mineral Industry Federation, July 2011

The Mining Association of Canada (MAC), the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) and the fifteen other mining-related associations that are members of the Canadian Mineral Industry Federation (CMIF) appreciate this opportunity to provide federal, provincial and territorial Mines Ministers with views and recommendations regarding policy issues of importance to our industry. The CMIF members represent the majority of companies engaged in mineral exploration, mining, and processing – accounting for most of Canada’s production of base and precious metals, uranium, diamonds, metallurgical and thermal coal, potash and mined oil sands.

1.0 OVERVIEW OF CANADA’S MINERALS INDUSTRY

The Canadian Economy

After seven years of strong performance from 2000 to 2007, a global recession took hold in late-2008 and served to reduce Canadian GDP by 2.5% through 2009. Mineral prices fell in most commodities, operations in mines and smelters were reduced and mineral exploration spending curtailed. However, global economic growth, again led by China, resumed in the final quarter of 2009 and has continued to be strong through 2010 and the first two quarters of 2011.

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The Public Image of Mining – PDAC President Scott Jobin-Bevans Speech at the Calgary Mineral Forum (April 12, 2011)

The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) advocates to protect the interests of the Canadian mineral exploration industry and to ensure a robust mining sector in the most environmentally sustainable and socially responsible manner possible. 

“If the mining industry is unwilling to talk about its achievements, how can we expect Canadians to understand and value it?” (PDAC President Scott Jobin-Bevans – April 12, 2011)

Good evening everybody.

I’d like to thank Darren Anderson for inviting me to the Calgary Mining Forum’s 20thanniversary. The first years of any organization’s life are the most challenging so M-E-G [Mineral Exploration Group] has reached a milestone.

I understand there’ll be some oil and gas folks here tonight so I’m please that MEG is helping two streams of geology maintain their connections.

Over the last 20 years, a number of the PDAC’s board members have come from MEG. Michael Marchand, president of Leeward Capital, was just elected for his third term at our convention last month. And MEG’s past president, Sherri Hodder, who shares my interest in student recruitment, is one of our newer directors, elected in 2009.

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PDAC NEWS RELEASE: Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada welcomes extension of mineral exploration incentive in 2011 federal budget

TORONTO (March 22, 2011) – Scott Jobin-Bevans, president of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), expressed support for the inclusion of the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit (METC) in the Government of Canada’s budget, announced today. 
 
“On behalf of our members, many of whom are involved in raising financing for grassroots exploration, I am pleased that the federal government has proposed that the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit be extended for another year,” said Dr. Jobin-Bevans. “Investment in mineral exploration is the first step in addressing Canada’s decline in mineral reserves and the METC program plays a critical role in encouraging investment in Canadian-based projects.”
 
The 2011 federal budget proposes that the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit, known also as the super flow-through share program, that was due to expire at the end of March 2011 be extended for an additional year to March 31, 2012. As stated in today’s budget, exploration and development of Canada’s rich mineral resources offer important investment and employment benefits in many parts of the country, particularly in rural and remote regions.

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PDAC NEWS RELEASE: Highlights from the 2011 PDAC International Convention, Trade Show & Investors Exchange

TORONTO (March 22, 2011) Where the world’s mineral industry meets just about sums up this year’s PDAC International Convention. Total attendance was a record-breaking 27,700, up by 26% or 5,000 from last year. Attendees included registered delegates, exhibitors, investors, speakers, sponsors, students, media, staff and volunteers.

In all, 1,000 companies showcased their discoveries and wares at the Trade Show and Investors Exchange in an exhibit space covering the equivalent of eight football pitches. Sixty companies were featured in the Core Shack.

More than 50 foreign delegations, many of them headed by government ministers, attended. The largest contingents came from Argentina, Chile, China, India, Mexico and Peru. Many countries booked rooms where their governments could promote mining and investment opportunities, and the crowds flocked to find out more about Armenia, Bolivia, Portugal, Australia, Greenland, Brazil. Ecuador, South Africa, Peru, Chile, Colombia and India.

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NEWS RELEASE: Natural Resources Canada News – Government of Canada Strengthens Commitment to Mineral Exploration

March 7, 2011

TORONTO — Canada’s world-leading exploration and mining industry, an important source of employment and an economic driver for the country, will benefit from a new federal investment in mineral exploration geoscience.

Speaking at the annual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference, the Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of Natural Resources, today announced the third renewal of the Targeted Geoscience Initiative (TGI). The Government of Canada will provide funding of $25 million over five years ― more than double the original two-year allocation of $12 million ― to help develop new ways of exploring for deep mineral deposits.

“The Government of Canada recognizes that modern geoscientific information can help lower industry’s exploration risks and support the search for undiscovered natural resources,” said Minister Paradis. “We are committed to fostering economic growth throughout Canada, improving our global competitiveness and helping create local employment in mineral-based communities.”

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2011 PDAC Speech: by the Honourable Christian Paradis, P.C., M.P. Minister of Natural Resources – Toronto, March 7, 2011

This speech was given by the Honourable Christian Paradis, P.C., M.P., Canadian Minister of Natural Resources, on March 7, 2011 at the Prospector and Developers of Canada convention in Toronto, Canada.

Introduction

Good morning. Bon matin à tous.

Whether you’ve come here from across the country or around the world, I’m delighted to welcome you on behalf of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Government of Canada.

I want to thank Shawn Atleo, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, for being here.  His presence demonstrates that Aboriginal people have a shared interest in mining and development of our resource sector. It also, in turn, reflects the importance of exploration and mining to Canada’s Aboriginal communities.

Let me also welcome Peter Van Loan, Canada’s Minister of International Trade. And I would like to bring special greetings to the Honourable Laurence Golborne, Minister of Mines for Chile.

Minister Golborne, like everyone in this room, I was elated by the rescue of those 33 trapped miners last fall. I was born and raised in a mining town, and I know the close bonds that form not just between miners themselves but among their families.

So you can bet I was cheering along with the rest of the world when those miners were reunited with their loved ones. The rescue was an inspiration to all of us. And I hope that spirit and inspiration finds its way into all our talks at this conference.

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NEWS RELEASE: YUKON PROSPECTOR IS AMONG THE 2011 ANNUAL AWARDS RECIPIENTS ANNOUNCED TODAY BY THE PROSPECTORS AND DEVELOPERS ASSOCIATION OF CANADA (PDAC)

TORONTO (December 9, 2010) – Prospector Shawn Ryan will receive the Bill Dennis Award for prospecting success, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) announced today. Ryan is one of six awards winners to be honoured at an awards evening on Monday, March 7, 2011, in Toronto during the association’s annual international convention (March 6-9).
 
Ryan worked for close to 15 years to locate the source of the alluvial gold that sparked the Klondike gold rush more than a century ago. In 2004 he identified the anomaly that led Underworld Resources to its White Gold deposit and a subsequent $138-million takeover by Kinross Gold Corporation. Ryan’s efforts and prospecting success have had a substantial impact on exploration in Yukon, stimulating renewed exploration interest and activity in the territory.
 
One of the discoverers of gold in the Klondike was Skookum Jim Mason. An award commemorating him is presented by the PDAC for aboriginal achievement in the mineral industry. The winner of the 2011 Skookum Jim Award is Jerry Asp who is being recognized for promoting mining’s benefits to aboriginal communities in British Columbia. Asp established the Tahltan Nation Development Corporation to provide construction and maintenance services to northern BC mines and was responsible for negotiating two mining impact and benefits agreements in the province.

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Money, brains and buried treasure at PDAC 2011- by Norm Tollinsky

Norm Tollinsky is editor of Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal, a magazine that showcases the mining expertise of North Bay, Timmins and Sudbury. This article is from the March, 2011 issue.

It’s no accident that 22,000 members of the global mining community take over Front Street in Toronto every year about this time. Ontario, the epicenter of the global mineral exploration business, is where the deals get done. It’s where money is raised and expertise is sought for discovering and mining the resources that are more in demand than ever as prosperity in the developing countries puts cash in the pockets of hundreds of millions of new consumers.

Downtown Toronto is where it all happens, but Ontario’s stature as an international centre of mining expertise begins with the province’s inexhaustible natural endowment of gold, diamonds, copper, nickel, zinc, platinum group metals and now, chromite. After a brief dip in mineral exploration caused by the global financial meltdown in 2008, Ontario is once again firing on all cylinders.

As reported in our cover story this issue, the province reported record-breaking mineral exploration expenditures of $825 million for 2010 and there is every indication that 2011 will be just as busy. All across Northern Ontario, from Detour Gold’s 14.9 million ounce Detour Lake project in the northeast to Osisko’s 6.7 million ounce Hammond Reef project in northwestern Ontario, we are seeing former producing mines returning to production, new resources being discovered, shafts being sunk or deepened and head frames rising from the earth.

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Michael Gravelle, Ontario Minister of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry: Official Opening Ontario Pavilion (PDAC) Speech (March 7, 2011)

(L to R) Garry Clark, Executive Director of the Ontario Prospectors Association; Phil Vinet, Mayor of Red Lake; Alan Spacek, Mayor of Kapuskasing and President of FENOM; Honourable Michael Gravelle, Minister of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry; Chris Hodgson, President of Ontario Mining Association; Glenn Nolan, Vice-President, Aboriginal Affairs and the PDAC’s first Vice-President

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Thank you, for your kind introduction. And welcome everyone to PDAC 2011!

I’d like to begin by extending a warm welcome to Glen Nolan, First-Vice President of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, Garry Clark, Executive Director of Ontario Prospectors Association and Chris Hodgson, President of the Ontario Mining Association, who have joined us here today for the official opening of the Ontario Pavilion.

We’re all looking forward to participating in the greatest mining show on earth here in Toronto!

This year I’m very excited to report a new record for delegations this year – 25,000!  Over the next few days we will be telling these delegations from all over the world about Ontario! 

I’m very happy to report that this year for the first time; more than 800 active mining exploration projects have been recorded across the province.

As well, we’ll be telling the world that we’ve set a new record in exploration spending – in 2011 we are expected to hit $951 million!

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[Toronto PDAC] Mining convention: Let the hard rockin’ begin – by Lisa Wright

Lisa Wright is a business reporter with the Toronto Star, which has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on Canada’s federal and provincial politics as well as shaping public opinion. This article was originally published March 6, 2011.

Lisa Wright (Toronto Star Business Reporter)

With demand for metals red hot again, it feels like the Klondike for miners. An army of 25,000 from 125 countries is expected to show at the industry’s biggest annual blast, opening today in Toronto

Amid boom times in the metals business, the centre of corporate Canada will be transformed into a mining mecca this week as thousands prospectors converge at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre to dig for deals and take advantage of skyrocketing prices.

Investors are also welcome to attend the annual industry blast known as the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention. The hard-rock bonanza draws all walks of the mineral exploration business from the guys who stake claims in the bush to brokers and bankers, students, salesmen, geoscientists and mining company executives from more than 100 countries.

The PDAC’s new president, Scott Jobin-Bevans, says a lot has changed since the first time he attended with his dad — both geologists from Flin Flon, Man. — about 20 years ago when the event was at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel.

“I would say the big difference is the sheer size of it. It’s a monster now,” he says.

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PDAC Mining Meeting Means Millions to Metro Toronto

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.
 

The Ontario Mining Association salutes fellow industry organization the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada for its upcoming annual international conference, which is projected to pump more than $45 million into Toronto’s local economy.  The PDAC, which started in 1932, will be holding its International Convention, Trade Show & Investors Exchange from March 6 to 9, 2011 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC).

Last year, this global event, which brings the world’s mining industry to Ontario’s capital, attracted a record 22,000 registered delegates.  More than 25% of the participants were international coming from 118 different countries.  At the trade show, 357 companies and governments occupied 608 booths and 584 companies participated in the investors’ exchange.

The PDAC reports that for this year, registrations are running well ahead of last year’s pace and downtown hotels have sold out faster.  Already, 10 major downtown hotels with room rates from $159 to $254 per night are posting no vacancy signs during the convention.  Delegates seeking accommodation are being forced to move further afield from the MTCC.

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