PDAC – Page 6 – Republic of Mining

PDAC 2009 Convention – the Mining Bust of a Generation? – by Stan Sudol

May 15, 2010March 9, 2009

What a difference a year makes at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) annual convention, the largest on the planet. The PDAC is where the world’s mining analysts, investors, prospectors, exploration managers, government representatives and anyone else connected to this industry come to meet, do business, attend lectures and of course party. There is also a large Investor’s Exchange that the general public can attend to find out about the newest exploration plays or interrogate company presidents about their stock performance.

Needless to say, the mood was somewhat somber as everyone is trying to cope with commodity prices and metal demand that over the past six months have fallen off the proverbial cliff. The rapidness of the crash, along side with the unprecedented turmoil in credit and capital markets that has dried up funding for most exploration and development work has sent a legitimate fear throughout the entire junior mining sector.

A PricewaterhouseCoopers survey found that the market capitalization of the top 100 TSX-V junior mining companies plummeted from $20.2 billion on June 30, 2007 to $4.1 billion by November 2008. Investors are shunning higher risk exploration companies like the plague.

Donald Coxe Speech for the 2009 Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Convention

May 15, 2010March 4, 2009

With 35 years of institutional investing and money management experience in the United States and Canada, Donald Coxe has a unique background in North American and global capital markets. www.donaldcoxe.com

Due to illness, Mr. Coxe could not give this keynote address at the PDAC convention. PDAC and Mr. Coxe have graciously allowed Republic of Mining.com to post the speech. www.pdac.ca

“WHEN YOU COME TO A FORK IN THE ROAD—TAKE IT”
Don Coxe,
Chairman, Coxe Advisors LLC.

Hello Toronto—I truly wish I were with you. This is a desire that goes back a long way.

Nearly 6 decades ago, when I started reading The Northern Miner, I concluded that the Prospectors and Developers Association convention must be the neatest convention in the world, and the biggest thrill would be to be giving the keynote address to that convention. I could never aspire, then, to that happening. I had to live a long time, and then I proceeded to get sick.

In that sense, it’s an abbreviation of what has happened to us all, which is that, as of a year ago, it seemed that we’d got what we wanted. It was all coming true—and all of a sudden, a financial collapse hit Wall Street. As you know, for the last 6 years, I’ve been telling people that “We are living through the greatest simultaneous efflorescence of personal economic liberty in human history.”

By that, I mean people who for the first time, (after having led lives of privation and poverty) are moving into dwellings with indoor plumbing, electricity, basic appliances, and acquiring access to private motorized transportation. The people who have those things have more personal economic freedom than 99% of the people whom have ever lived.

What’s happened in this decade is simply that a whole section of the world began to catch up to where we in the industrial world had long been, thereby transforming the outlook for the mining industry.

Prepared Speech for AFN National Chief Phil Fontaine – At the MOU with PDAC – Toronto

May 15, 2010March 18, 2008

Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine

I would like to thank everyone for taking the time away from this very busy convention to come here to witness this Memorandum of Understanding in our Corporate Challenge between the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada and the Assembly of First Nations.

I also want to sincerely thank PDAC President Patricia Dillon; Don Bubar, who is chair of the Aboriginal Affairs Committee, and Chief Glenn Nolan, who is a PDAC Vice President, for all of the hard work it took to get us to this important occasion.

I also want to thank all of the PDAC staff – particularly Philip Bousquet and Kim MacDonald – who have been in contact with the AFN since last May.

Some of you may be wondering why we want to work with the mining industry. It’s pretty simple. First Nations want to work with all industries and corporations in order to achieve economic self- sufficiency.

By doing so, this will empower First Nations to break the chains of dependency and despair; empower us to revitalize our languages and cultures; and empower us to participate and prosper in the Canadian economy.

Canada’s PDAC 2008 Convention – The Mining Boom Continues – Stan Sudol

March 16, 2008March 5, 2008

Ontario Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle and PDAC Mining Matters Kids The annual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention is the premier event in the global exploration and mining sector. The Toronto convention, which is always held in the first week of March, is expected to set another attendance record this year with about 20,000 visitors.

As I jump from presentation to event throughout this column I may sound like I have a severe case of “attention deficit disorder. This only reflects the many stories, people, lectures and events at the PDAC which just simply overloads the mind. Combine that with the networking, business deals, and the enormous amounts of partying and the frantic three and a half days can become a blur to any participant. Where to start?

Interview with New PDAC President Jon G. Baird on Mining Challenges – Stan Sudol

March 4, 2008March 4, 2008

Jon G. Baird - President of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) promotes the interests of the Canadian mineral exploration sector to ensure that there is an economically prosperous and competitive mining industry in Canada. A critical part of PDAC’s mandate is to encourage the highest standards of technical, environmental, safety and social practices of the industry both in Canada and internationally.

New Presidents for the Prospectors and Developers Association start their two-year mandates just following the organization’s convention held in Toronto, Canada in early March of each year.

Canadian-born President Jon G. Baird is an engineer who graduated in geophysics from the University of Toronto in 1964. He has a solid background in dealing with international business.

New PDAC President Jon G. Baird – A Profile

May 15, 2010February 29, 2008

PDAC Presidents traditionally serve two years. Outgoing President Patricia Dillon will be relinquishing her position to Jon G. Baird, a Canadian-born engineer who graduated in geophysics from the University of Toronto in 1964. His business career has spanned 28 years with Scintrex Limited, a Toronto based consultant and manufacturer of instrumentation used in mineral exploration …

Assembly of First Nations Chief Phil Fontaine – Speech to the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada

May 15, 2010February 12, 2008

I would like to thank the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada for your kind invitation to speak here today. In particular, I want to thank Don Bubar, the Chair of the Aboriginal Affairs Committee for his vision and efforts in bringing our communities together.

Before I start though, I want to congratulate PDAC on your 75th anniversary…….your diamond anniversary.

Speaking of diamonds, the newest diamond mine in Canada – which just happens to be located on Attawapiskat First Nation territory – has inspired this speech to you today. This is because the development model being used there is exactly the model we would like to see all mining companies in Canada embrace.

DeBeers Canada is investing more than $980 Million to develop the mine. This could eventually pump more than $6 Billion dollars into Ontario’s economy … $6 Billion dollars!

The project will earn money for DeBeers and generate royalties for Canada. However, the most important aspect of the development from our standpoint, will be the hundreds of jobs it will create for residents in local First Nations communities as well as sustainable education, training, and business opportunities for our people for decades to come.