LIAMforum returns for second year to counter youth skepticism of mining

As questions arise every year over whether schools are producing enough mining graduates, so does the need to keep introducing youth to all facets of the industry.

That’s why the free, online LIAMforum conference on sustainable resource development is back in October for its second consecutive year, says the event’s organizer, Raziel Zisman.

“Since the initial LIAMforum…We realized there’s a major need for this kind of event,” said Zisman, a Partner at Whittle Consulting who leads its Sustainable Governance Initiative, and named the event after his late son Liam.

“My reading is that young people are a new generation that are very values driven, which is wonderful. They want to see a better world and they don’t really want to compromise and follow the route of previous generations,” Zisman said, noting that major mining conferences like PDAC, Mines and Money or Indaba don’t have enough events sufficiently centred on young people.

This year’s forum is again hosted by Brock University in St. Catharines and runs from from Oct. 3 to 6. Its panels and speakers focus on a wide range of topics including biodiversity, critical minerals, Indigenous people and artificial intelligence, as well as regionally oriented forums on the Amazon rainforest and the Far North.  

The conference features more than 120 speakers from industry, academia and government, including Ontario Mines Minister George Pirie, McEwen Mining chair and CEO Rob McEwen, and Vale Base Metals chair and former Anglo American (LSE: AAL) CEO Mark Cutifani.

Also on the roster is federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, Jean-Phillipe Mai, president and CEO of Dundee Sustainable Technologies, International Council for Mining and Metals COO Aidan Davy and Stratalis Group managing partner George Hemingway.

Prominent figures also spoke at last year’s forum, but Zisman explains that this year stands out for its panel discussions aimed at “onboarding” young people into mining and trying to understand how Gen Z’ers think.

The “Building Trust, Validating Purpose & Securing Engagement: Action plan for Gen Zs & Natural Resources” panel on Oct. 4 is aimed at confronting the skepticism Zisman says young people have of mining.

“How do we connect with them? How can we value their views and engage with them so that they take charge of things? We have a lot of kids not interested in our sector at all, partly from what they read growing up and what they read in social feeds,” he said.

On the same day, the “Gen Z Women & the Green Transition: STEM, Glass Ceilings & Other Challenges” panel will be chaired by Dr. Lesley Warren, managing director of the Lassonde Institute of Mining at the University of Toronto.

“My whole goal is to encourage and empower young people [and] tell them, look, there’s a whole bunch of us who are ready to welcome you to help you to make sure that you grow faster and better and to become an important member of the team as soon as possible,” Zisman said.

While last year’s LIAMforum was held online due to Covid-19 concerns, the organizers decided to keep it online this year to maintain easy access for attendees.

Next year, the plan is to continue the virtual event while branching out into in-person events around the world that could pair company mentors with younger people. As the conference prepares to roll out its second edition, Zisman believes Liam would be proud to see its return. Liam had been studying environmental geoscience at Brock when he died in January 2022 at age 19.  

Zisman recalls that his son was often frustrated by the negativity young people hear in the media relating to climate change, and wanted to know more about how things could be different.

“How do we show them the opportunities? This is where schools and colleges don’t really do a good job… How do we bridge that knowledge gap?” Zisman asks.

Read more about the speakers and register at https://liamforum.com/.