The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Hybrid mineral exploration convention reflects "new normal" North of 60 Mining News – January 7, 2022
After nearly two years since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the northern mineral exploration community will gather in person for the AME Roundup at the Canada Centre on the waterfront in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Engage. Connect. Evolve. – this theme of AME Roundup 2022 is the perfect reflection of a mineral exploration sector that is adapting to a world in which Zoom meetings and webinars must often replace boardroom meetings and live conferences as a means of engaging investors, shareholders, and stakeholders.
"As society recovers and evolves from the disruption caused by the global pandemic, so does our industry," said AME President and CEO Kendra Johnston. "At AME Roundup, you will discover how mineral exploration is evolving into a diverse, dynamic sector, embracing new technologies, forging community partnerships, and engaging the next generation."
For most mineral exploration companies unlocking the vast mineral potential across Alaska, British Columbia, and the Canadian territories, there are two seasons. During the long, warm days of summer, these companies explore northern projects enriched with precious, base, and critical minerals. Once the snow blankets outcrops and the water needed for drilling turns solid, these explorers enter a season of fundraising, dealmaking, learning, and planning.
Often overshadowed by the new discoveries, exciting drill results, and expanded deposits that happen during the summer, the winter season of engagement and connection is an important facet of mineral exploration that helps ensure summer successes.
For many of the mineral exploration companies targeting projects in Alaska, Northern BC, Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut, the AME Roundup kicks off this winter season in earnest.
Hosted by explorers for explorers, the AME Roundup held in Vancouver, BC, each January is the premier gathering place for thousands of geoscientists, prospectors, financiers, investors, suppliers, governments, and Indigenous partners to engage, share knowledge, and get the latest information on the opportunities and challenges shaping the mineral exploration sector.
"AME Roundup is where deals are made, talent is discovered, and trends are set," said Johnston.
Now, two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, the mineral exploration community and the AME Roundup are evolving the way they connect and engage.
Understanding the importance of one-on-one human engagement but realizing that not all members of the mineral exploration community can or should gather at the Vancouver Convention Centre West, AME has made Roundup 2022 a hybrid event that offers the advantages of an in-person event with live online programming that provides access from homes, offices, and exploration camps around the world.
"Join us to connect with your colleagues from around the world, to exchange ideas and inspire new discoveries, and to identify resources critical to our everyday life, sustaining vibrant regional communities for generations to come while respecting the environment around us," said Johnston.
The Roundup 2022 theme session – Engage. Connect. Evolve. – will drill down into the rapid evolution of how geological and environmental data is collected and used in an age where a project's environmental, social, and governance scores play as crucial a role to mineral exploration success as the richness of the ore and the size of the deposit.
Natural Resources Canada Minister Seamus O'Regan addressed the importance of ESG to the mining sector during his opening address of Remote Roundup 2021.
"The market's appetite for combating climate change, in terms of both profits and how we treat the planet, has never been stronger, and the need for corporate responsibility and social inclusion has never been more clear," he told attendees attending virtually during the pandemic.
During Roundup 2021, Pan American Silver founder and Chairman Ross Beaty defined ESG at its most basic level.
"It's not rocket science, it is just the right thing to do – you have to look after your employees, look after your communities, look after your environment," he said. "It's just good business."
Maintaining the highest of ESG standards is not only good mining business but is becoming increasingly essential to downstream manufacturers and consumers of the products those discovered and mined metals go into.
J. J. Messner de Latour, a senior program manager of responsible sourcing at Microsoft, stressed the value of responsibly and ethically sourced precious, base, and critical metals that go into the smartphones, laptops, and gaming systems produced by the tech giant.
"To believe in our products, and for the world to believe in our products, we need to be confident that our use of metals avoids impacts on the environment and on people's lives," he said during a presentation at Roundup 2021.
Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. founder and co-chairman Robert Friedland said the increasing need for metals to build a low-carbon future while also expecting higher ESG standards from the mining companies that deliver those metals creates an inherent conundrum for society.
"The countervailing pressure to meet very high ESG standards in mining is going to make the whole enterprise more interesting and difficult to do properly," he said last January.
Roundup 2022 continues this conversation by addressing the ESG standards that are playing a key role in how exploration and mining projects are undertaken.
While the mineral explorers that host and attend the Roundup have considered strong sustainable and ethical practices an important facet of the way they do business long before ESG became a buzzword for doing what is right, the standards by which the mining sector is measured are rapidly shifting.
This includes an increasing emphasis on how carbon dioxide emissions and ESG practices during the exploration and development stages factor into the economics of future mines that will supply the minerals and metals that the world needs and wants.
The Roundup 2022 theme session will showcase some of the cutting-edge technologies, practices, and ideas being implemented by mining and exploration companies at the forefront of evolving with the ever-changing ESG landscape.
Whether attending in person or online, Roundup will offer the mineral exploration and mining companies, financiers, investors, suppliers, governments, and Indigenous partners the first opportunity of 2022 to engage, connect, and evolve.
"We have come a long way since our last conference, and we are incredibly excited to announce a return to an in-person format in parallel with online content," said Roundup Organizing Committee Chair Dale Mah. "No matter where you are, you will be able to engage with colleagues, connect with the mineral exploration community, and evolve your industry knowledge."
AME Roundup 2022 begins on Jan. 31 and runs through Feb. 3. Visit https://roundup.amebc.ca/register/ to register.
On behalf of the AME team that has evolved with the "new normal" to bring Roundup back to the Vancouver Convention Centre West, as well as to computers, smartphones, and tablets around the globe, Johnston said, "We can't wait to see you there!"
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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