Undeterred by the pandemic, mining conference will carry on
B.C. organization will stage a virtual meeting, expects more international attendance
Mining exploration was included on British Columbia's list of industries deemed essential to carry on during the COVID-19 pandemic, so the sector's key organization will stage its annual conference, albeit in the ether as opposed to the Vancouver Convention Centre.
A pandemic-plagued 2020 turned out to be a busy, if interrupted year for mining exploration in the province, and this year's Association for Mineral Exploration B.C. Remote Roundup is expected to set the stage for another active field season.
In a preliminary tally, exploration companies raised $358 million during 2020 to devote to mineral exploration, and completed enough prospecting work to make 2020 the sector's busiest year since 2012, said AME B.C. CEO Kendra Johnston.
That was after an initial couple of months of uncertainty after COVID-19 first hit B.C. in midmarch, “so yeah, a really interesting year,” Johnston said. “But it did end up being a really productive year for us.”
And the “signs and signals out there,” including rising copper and gold prices, point to another busy year in 2021, as AME B.C. prepares to gather a hoped-for 5,000 participants for its virtual conference, set to run online from Jan. 18 to 22.
“I think there's a lot of really important conversations to be had,” Johnston said, as the organization's reasoning to forge ahead, starting with health and safety matters related to COVID-19.
Some of the most active regions in B.C. for mining exploration, such as the so-called “Golden Triangle” in the remote northwest, are on edge over COVID-19 with many First Nations maintaining restrictions that limit travel in and out of their territories to essential purposes.
Bigger industrial projects, such as LNG Canada's gas liquefaction plant and Coastal Gas Link's pipeline, have reported COVID -19 outbreaks at work camps near Kitimat and Burns Lake, but Johnston said prospectors managed to avoid cases of the virus over its short summer season.
“By definition, we are actually social distancing out in the wilderness and in the field,” Johnston said about the often solitary and isolated work of mining exploration.
“I think tensions are still really quite high, and understandably so,” she added, but the industry puts a premium on working with communities and provincial authorities on their safety plans.
Eva Clayton, president of the Nisga'a Nation, whose territory is within the northwestern Golden Triangle, said her people are confident that the pandemic plans that exploration companies have in place under Worksafebc rules are being implemented.
The Nisga'a and Tahltan nations are Indigenous members of the B.C. Regional Mining Alliance and Clayton added that her nation has stayed in frequent contact with exploration companies during the pandemic.
“The rollout of vaccine programs throughout the province will certainly alleviate the concerns of many in the region,” Clayton said. “We are optimistic that once the rollout of vaccines is complete, the exploration camps may resume safely at full capacity.”
Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation Minister Bruce Ralston, who will take part in opening the Remote Roundup, said B.C. is seizing on some momentum in interest for mining with higher prices for key commodities, such as copper, which is in high demand for use in electric cars and renewable energy.
For the actual conference, guessing attendance is something of a wild card. Johnston said they anticipate higher international participation since people won't have to travel, but guessed that local participation will be lower.
It is a conference well known for opportunities to socialize and network, which won't be possible in person this year, as well as it's “core shack” of rock-drilling samples that companies show off where people can “lift and touch and feel rocks,” Johnston said.
However, the organization has worked on building in digital options for networking through digital check-ins and chat functions.
“At this point, the biggest challenge is communicating all of those opportunities and getting the buy-in of the individual (that) it will be different,” Johnston said.