Published: March 1, 2024 |

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The Prospectors & Developer’s Association of Canada (PDAC) 2024 Convention will kick off in Toronto this weekend bringing together mineral exploration and development companies, investors, students, scientists, and more. 

Here’s what’s going to be top of mind for this year’s conference attendees:

• AI IN MINING EXPLORATION

While artificial intelligence (AI) has played a growing role in the mining sector for many years, 2023’s “AI gold rush” has brought the role that this technology could play in exploration to the forefront of this year’s PDAC conference.

Points of discussion will include new AI exploration tools, the best principles for applying AI such as Generative AI (GenAI) and machine learning (ML) to datasets from exploration and mining geology, and how to evaluate and use results produced by GenAI and ML algorithms.

Numerous sessions include presentations from companies about their specific exploration strategies in the AI age, such as Baselode Energy CEO James Sykes, who will speak at the “Case histories, tools and strategies in the AI age” session on Tuesday, March 5.

• RISING MINING COSTS

Miners have not been immune from the effects of inflation post-pandemic. While GlobalData research shows 2023 costs did not increase as much as they did in 2022, when average operational costs across the top 40 mining companies rose about 6 percent according to a PwC analysis, they continue to pressure miners’ bottom lines.

According to a GlobalData survey conducted in October and November 2023, miners have indicated that they continue to see elevated prices for fuel and power, in addition to maintenance parts and repair and explosives. Labor costs have also increased driven by higher wages.

Discussions on this topic at PDAC are expected to not only center the existing issues stemming from high inflation and cost mitigation techniques, but around which parts of the mining industry supply chains will be challenged by inflation in the future during the energy transition.

• SOURCES OF CAPITAL

Amid high inflation and increasing capital demands, a major topic of discussion at PDAC will be what needs to be done to attract new capital into the mining sector.

Attendees including investors and industry leaders are expected to share their insights into where money will come from, how to make the sector more investable, and why critical minerals are struggling to attract funding despite their promising outlook.

This comes as Franco-Nevada Corporation founder Pierre Lassonde and well-known mining investor Frank Guistra have suggested the Federal government force pension funds to invest billions in Canada’s mining sector to enable the sector to produce enough metals to support the energy transition.

Dealmaking will also be on the minds of PDAC attendees amid a muted start to mining M&A in 2024, with no significant takeovers announced since Glencore’s Teck Resources acquisition was finalized in November last year.

THE HUNT FOR BATTERY METALS

As North America races towards the energy transition, battery metals explorers will draw attention at this year’s PDAC event.

The annual commodity outlook keynote speech, being delivered by Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm, will be focused on the metals required to support the energy transition and the importance of sourcing these in secure and sustainable supply chains.

There will be a focus on companies who have stepped up to meet the rising demand for these critical minerals, such as Argentina Lithium & Energy which in September entered into a $90 million partnership with automaker Stellantis NV to develop its Argentina lithium projects.

In the graphite space, Westwater Resources ecently announced it has signed an offtake agreement with South Korean EV battery developer SK On and Quebec-based Nouveau Monde Graphite unveiled offtake agreements with General Motors Company and Panasonic Energy, Panasonic’s battery division.

Meanwhile, Talon Metals has an agreement in place with Tesla to supply the EV-maker with nickel from its Tamarack project in Minnesota.

Attendees are also set to discuss ways to de-risk the battery supply chain amid changing geopolitical landscapes and how to identify traditional and new bottlenecks to the development of these resources.

• PROMOTING MINE SAFETY

Finally, following a recent landslide at the Anagold Madencilik’s Çöpler gold mine in Turkey, part-owned by Denver-based SSR Mining, after which at least nine workers are still missing, mining safety will be a key discussion point at this year’s PDAC event.

Conversations will center around how to create and maintain a strong mining safety culture with an on psychological health and safety, especially in remote locations.

Source: Proactive Investors

The Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) is the leading voice of the mineral exploration and development community, an industry that employs more than 664,000 individuals, and contributed $132 billion to Canada’s GDP in 2021. Currently representing over 7,000 members around the world, PDAC’s work centers on supporting a competitive, responsible, and sustainable mineral sector.

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