March 2017 | Business View Magazine

48 49 side is what we look after and its technical, social, and governmental relations aspects.” As Shafer suggests, PDAC, initially founded in 1932, in the depths of the Great Depression, represents the agenda of the front end of the industry– exploration and development. “At that time, it was due to the general struggle of all industries,” he relates. “Miners were having problems dealing with accessing areas to work, developing buyers, and so on. So, back in those days, PDAC focused on two areas: advocacy for a competitive exploration business, and to pro- vide services to its members to help them raise capital, which was in short supply.” The Association began in Toronto, and Sha- fer says that its original geographic focus was restricted to the province of Ontario. “But in time, it extended to encompass greater Canada as our membership grew,” he explains. “In recent years, because the Canadian mining industry, particularly the exploration side of it has moved offshore, we essentially followed our members to help them function responsibly both from an environmental and social perspective, and to help them utilize and take advantage of devel- oping technologies.We also advocate for the utilization and development of best practices because you want to operate in the most re- sponsible fashion no matter where you are in the world.” Canada is the world leader in mineral exploration and mining, producing more than 60 minerals and metals $44 billion Estimated mineral production value in 2014 62% of all global mining equity finance was raised on the TMX in 2014 550,000 Canadians directly and indirectly employed in the industry Mining is the largest private sector employer of Aboriginal peoples in Canada The life-cycle of a typical mining project Prospecting & claim staking Mineral exploration Development & production Closure & rehabilitation 2-10 yrs Exploration & deposit appraisal expenditures in Canada in 2015 $1.8 billion Top 10 mined products in Canada • Coal • Copper • Diamonds • Gold • Iron Ore • Nickel • Potash • Sand and gravel cement • Stone zinc • Uranium 1-2 yrs 3-14 yrs 20 yrs 2016 The Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada