The Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) annual convention in Toronto returned to its early March time slot in 2023, following its June 2022 in-person revival from the pandemic that saw the world’s biggest mining conference go entirely virtual for the first time in 2021.
This year’s attendance was 23,819, consisting of more than 1,100 exhibitors covering over 600,000 square feet of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
“The energy and optimism witnessed during PDAC 2023 was palpable—it is clear the mineral exploration and mining industry has entered a period of great transformation and growth,” PDAC president Alex Christopher said in a statement.
READ: PDAC 2023: Precious metals recover in March but strong jobs report could prompt reversal, analyst says
“Critical minerals, battery, battery minerals, lots of buzz about northern Ontario, which is great,” Jeff Portelance, senior manager with mining contractor Civiltek Limited, told CBC News.
“There's a lot of focus on the northern Ontario pavilion that we're in, the Northern Ontario Mining showcase, and lots of people coming to talk to all the northern Ontario businesses about minerals and what we can offer the world,” he added.
Mining magnate Robert Friedland, founder and executive co-chair of Ivanhoe Mines, meanwhile told an audience at the convention that the West shouldn’t go to war over Taiwan because it needs investment from China to mine metals for the global green energy transition, The Northern Miner reported.
“We’re going to have to find capital from Americans or Saudis or sovereign wealth funds, but we need a lot more money coming to junior mining, orders of magnitude more,” Friedland said.
“It’s really hard to raise money for mining because the bankers assign a discount rate of eight, ten or 12%,” he added.
PDAC 2024 will take place in Toronto next year from March 3-6.
Contact Sean at sean@proactiveinvestors.com