Northern Ont. mining businesses have major presence at Toronto mining conference

Mining companies and mining supply businesses in northern Ontario are networking and striking deals at the annual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference in Toronto.

They set up the Northern Ontario Mining Showcase (NOMS) booth to show what northern Ontario has to offer the world of mining.

“There is a large distance between many of us as suppliers in the mine sites,” said Jamie Pouw, The Bucket Shop’s business optimization lead.

“This is one of the rare occasions where we get to come together.”

This year, PDAC is expected to bring in more than 30,000 attendees from more than 130 countries. The City of Temiskaming Shores took the lead on the NOMS, the largest pavilion at the PDAC convention.

“Northern Ontario is offering to the world. It’s not even so much as exhibitors pulling people in,” said Temiskaming Shores Mayor Jeff Laferriere.

“People are coming in and wanting to come in and find out what’s going on.”

The showcase helps businesses increase sales and exports. Since its inception in 2015, the FedNor-funded pavilion has nearly tripled in size and helped companies create more than 900 jobs and generate more than $100 million in sales.

Mining companies and mining supply businesses in northern Ontario are networking and striking deals at the annual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference in Toronto. (Supplied)

“Not only are they meeting new clients, but they’re also meeting new companies that can help supply the materials they need for their businesses,” said Laferriere.

Northern Ontario politicians and other dignitaries are joining the more than 110 mining and mining supply businesses and organizations at the pavilion to highlight the wealth of products, services and investment opportunities the region has to offer.

“One of our goals was to grow our dealer network in South America,” said Ruf Diamond president Daryl Adams.

“This year has been the apex of demand and interest and overall attendance at our booth.”

Adams is showing off the ‘fat truck,’ an all-terrain, all-purpose amphibious beast of a vehicle built to withstand the harshest conditions. It can be used for mine rescue, shipping product or transportation to the mine site.

“We have generated significant interest in places like Argentina,” he said.

“My assistant was gathering information about a mine site in Brazil where they need assistance in de-watering … They are quite interested because they were telling us the access point into these surface areas is almost like dealing in water. It’s very, very dangerous to try and bring a boat down into the embankment that’s just sheer mud.”

Mining companies and mining supply businesses in northern Ontario are networking and striking deals at the annual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference in Toronto. (Supplied)

While at the conference Monday afternoon, the Ontario government announced it is giving out more than $3.7 million through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC) to 11 mining supply and service sector companies in northern Ontario.

This money is meant to promote innovation, workplace safety, business development and job creation in the mining industry.

"Our government continues to send a strong signal to the world that northern Ontario is open for business, and we are using every tool at our disposal, like the NOHFC, to attract businesses and support economic diversification in the mining sector,” said Greg Rickford, Minister of Northern Development.

Details on which companies are receiving support can be found here.

The conference started on Sunday and wraps up Wednesday.

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