Land use, environment among PDAC issues

Delegates at this year’s Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada Convention will be reminded of some of the new realities that confront the mining industry when they gather at Toronto’s Royal York Hotel this week. The annual convention which begins Sunday and winds up on Wednesday evening will include a panel discussion on the land use and environmental issues that are now a prime concern in mining circles.

The globalization of mining and developments occurring outside of North America will be the subject of keynote speeches by Dr. Klaus Zeitler and Hakan Hermansson. Zeitler is chief executive officer of Toronto- based Metall Mining, and Hakan Hermansson is president of Swedish conglomerate Trelleborg.

Trelleborg is the Swedish company that last year teamed up with Noranda Inc. to buy Toronto-based nickel giant Falconbridge Ltd.

“We are attempting to follow our perception of changes that are affecting society and our business in particular,” said Henrik Thalenhorst, chairman of the PDAC Convention committee.

The land use issues will be debated at a first-of-a-kind panel discussion Monday morning when delegates can come face to face with one of the country’s most outspoken environmentalists.

Leading the discussion will be World Wildlife Fund Canada President Monte Hummel, who wants the government to designate 12% of Canada’s land mass as parkland. Len Good, deputy minister of Environment Canada, is also scheduled to speak at the meeting.

“We have to examine the differences that exist between environmentalists and the mining industry and ask ourselves what we can do about them,” said Thalenhorst.

Also included in the “new realities” theme are some of the mineral discoveries that have hit the headlines in Canada last year. For example, the Aur Resources team of Jim Gill and Howard Stockford will be on hand to talk about their Louvicourt Twp. massive sulphide discovery east of Val d’Or. The 36-million-ton copper-zinc find has made Gill and Stockford household names within the mining fraternity and they will be named Prospectors of the Year at an awards banquet on Monday evening.

Officials from Prime Explorations and Audrey Resources will also describe how the famous Eskay Creek gold and Mobrun polymetallic lenses were discovered.

While these new discoveries indicate that Canada is still a leading source of mineral deposits, local delegates will get the chance to see how they rate on the international stage when Zeitler and Hermansson take the podium at noon on Monday and Wednesday respectively. Hosting the speeches are the Canadian Club of Toronto and Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.

Regular convention features, like the Geological Survey of Canada sessions and Core Shack, are back again this year. With the exception of the Pat Sheridan Reception, most of the regular social functions including the Kirkland Lake Night, scheduled for Tuesday evening, are also part of the program. While Sheridan declined to say why his reception is cancelled, the event will be replaced this year by a reception hosted by St. Genevieve Resources.

Convention organizers said they wouldn’t know, until after the event is over, how the registration figures will compare with last year when 3,200 delegates attended. During pre-registration week, delegates from as far away as England had signalled their intention to attend, and representatives from the Financial Times of London will also be flying in for a visit.

But Thalenhorst said the recent slump in the level of exploration in Canada probably won’t be felt until next year.