PDAC 2014 Mining Show Wrap-Up

It’s been a couple months since PDAC 2014, the four-day annual convention of the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada, took place in Toronto. This truly international show attracts attendees and exhibitors from all over the world, representing all facets of the mining and minerals industry from geologists to investors. This year’s show featured over 1,000 exhibitors and 25,000 attendees from 126 countries. At a show this size, the topics, technologies, and trends covered are diverse. As one attendee put it, “anything you want to know about mining is at this one show.”  So what’s on everyone’s minds this year? After digesting everything PDAC 2014 had to offer, here are a few of the key discussion topics that, in my opinion, took center stage: The investment front: Mining is increasingly viewed as a less secure investment, and mining companies are feeling the heat and struggling to raise capital. The situation is exacerbated by the shrinking supply of new mine sites and diminishing reserves in the brownfield sites. Furthermore, about 50% of mining companies are looking for gold, and the declining price of this precious metal is creating huge pressure on companies in this sector. These factors are combining to create a fiscally conservative mindset on the part of potential investors. In fact, many show attendees were investors who want to know where their money is going or if they should invest in certain technologies. New technologies: Because most easy and exposed deposits have been discovered already, companies are looking for new sources of deeply hidden deposits and tools to find them easily. The need for new technologies to find deposits was highlighted in the numerous sessions including geophysical and geochemical methods of exploration, extrapolating geochemical data, and new methods of mineral and phase identification. Other sessions of interest explored the issues concerning indigenous populations at the mine area, such as how to make it easy to access the property and make the mining operation fair and beneficial to property owners and local people. Taking advantage of existing technologies: Attendees were also interested in existing technologies including handheld x-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyzers. Handheld XRF is generally well adopted in mining industry, although about 20% of attendees were unfamiliar with these instruments and their many applications. Many attendees were very interested in sample preparation methods and tools that can be used with handheld and portable XRF analyzers. Sample preparation creates a homogeneous sample, which is extremely important because sample heterogeneity and sampling techniques can greatly impact results. Samples that come out of a mill or similar device are fine-grained and contain more consistent particle sizes than any other type of sample. A powdered sample is more representative of the sampling media and will produce consistent and repeatable assay data. Did you attend PDAC 2014? Please tell us about your experience!