Wheels of production beginning to turn

Although the recession has been termed “officially” ended, we in the mining services industry can find little comfort in recent statements to this effect from politicians and economists, neither of whom have enviable track records with their economic predictions. Nevertheless, there are ample statistics to suggest that the wheels of production are indeed moving again and consumer confidence has finally started to take hold in a more sustained manner.

This bodes well for our industry, as an increase in consumption of materials will eventually have a direct effect on the supply and demand of metals and other minerals. But that’s the good news.

If we look throughout our great country, we see lingering signs of fading interest on the part of major companies and also many of the smaller players as well. The recent Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention in Toronto was reasonably well

attended but if it wasn’t for the diamond play in the northwest, it would have been a dead loss.

We still have the problem of increased pressure from environmental groups and the continuing, apparent apathy toward mining on the part of our political leaders. These circumstances have led to the exodus of exploration capital and the shift in interest from Canada to Latin America and other parts of the globe considered to be more favorable . . . meaning essentially with less financial risk.

Some will suggest that this is the same old stuff rehashed from my talk last year, and they would be partially right. The difference is of course that a full year has passed and there is very little happening in Canada that can change this attitude toward a more positive direction.

When we look at the international market, we see that a number of Canadian drilling firms are working in it quite successfully and in the audience here today we have representatives from such firms who at this time have contracts in Greenland, the southwestern U.S., Mexico, Venezuela, Chile, and other parts of the world such as Africa and southeast Asia.

We can take pride in the fact that Canadian drilling contractors, with Canadian drillers, are reputed to be among the best in the world. It is by no accident that Canadian mining companies want Canadian contractors to do their drilling in foreign countries. In many instances this is because of the familiarity with the contractor and confidence built up from past performance on projects in Canada.

But we all know how “bottom-line” oriented mining companies can be, and if there were better contractors to do the work in these countries then they would be hired rather than Canadians. We can quite rightly make the claim that Canadian drilling contractors are among the best in the world. We have a right to make such a claim because, not only is it a well recognized fact, but it has taken many decades and generations of drillers to develop the skills and level of technology in our industry to reach this plateau. The 50th anniversary of the Canadian Diamond Drilling Association is a fitting occasion to reflect on this achievement.

We have made a major and timely stride forward in formulating an environmental policy and have established environmental guidelines which are a credit to our industry. The Northern Safety Group has continued to provide advice and guidelines which lead to improvement of safety in the workplace for our employees.

What about the future? Well, we are here in New Orleans celebrating our 50th year. Surely we are not going to let a few bad years drive us to despair. The mining industry in Canada will survive, because it is needed. When this fact becomes more evident to our leaders and other citizens the industry will improve, and probably be better off for the hard times it has gone through.

And when this shift toward mining does take place, I believe the same thing will be said for the diamond drilling industry, because it too is vital to the economic well being of Canada.

— Frank Nolan, president of Petro Drilling Co. Ltd. of Armdale, N.S., is the outgoing president of the CDDA. He spoke at the annual meeting in New Orleans.