Editorial Another great convention

Once again, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada has organized and executed a successful annual convention. With more than 4,000 delegates registering — the most at any of the association’s 56 annual get-togethers — this event may prove to be the high-water mark for the exploration industry in the 1980s. For many of the technical sessions it was standing room only. It was also a full house at the annual banquet and traffic throughout the Royal York Hotel during the 4-day event was heavy with scores of hospitality suites staying open into the early hours of each morning.

During the convention there was a curious split in the mood of the industry as a whole. The theme of the convention was “Financing — the Key to New Mines,” a timely topic. There is great uncertainty and real foreboding in the industry about the effect on the industry’s ability to raise capital if the earned depletion allowance for mineral exploration, a federal tax measure that makes flow-through financing attractive to investors, is phased out as the government proposes.

On the other hand, virtually everyone at the convention has had one of the best years ever in the exploration business, despite the stock market crash in October. Much of the activity in 1987 was due to the success of flow-through financing in letting small companies raise capital for exploration.

It’s hard to imagine that next year’s convention will be able to top 1988’s. We have no doubt that the industry will continue to prosper, but the feverish activity of the past year will be tough to duplicate. The PDAC represents an optimistic group, however. Doing away with flow-through financing, as the federal government seems determined to do, is a short-sighted and perhaps foolish decision, but it will not mean the end of mineral exploration. It will be an example of how little the industry is understood and how little its contribution to the economy is appreciated. For members of the PDAC, however, it will have to be just one more challenge to be overcome.