This year’s Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention, will include a key programme that will help miners understand how to navigate environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors and benchmarks, following the growing focus on ESG scorecards and the influence these carry in the market.

This year’s PDAC will also include a junior miner ESG forum, which will expand on the idea of ‘strategy to execution’.

The PDAC convention will take place from March 3 to 6, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC), in Canada.

The yearly PDAC event will host a range of industry presenters, experts and facilitators who will offer their knowledge and also discuss new mining strategies, concepts and mentionable case studies, as well as share other insights.

According to the organisers, the event will span both the north and south buildings of the MTCC, housing exhibitors from across the globe.

PDAC president Raymond Goldie says the 2023 iteration of PDAC hosted about 23 800 attendees, from over 133 countries, who were able to forge ties with the 1 100 exhibitors and the 717 presenters who spoke on various mining-related topics and products.

2024 Focus

Conference sessions of this year’s PDAC look to promote excellence in exploration by facilitating multi-stakeholder dialogue that examines the innovative ways in which the minerals industry effects improvement in their sustainability performance.

In addition, event organisers point out that the Exploration Insights session will showcase research related to the industry’s artificial intelligence advance, with the first such session focusing on new, or updated, exploration concepts and tools, while session two will focus on case histories, tools and exploration strategies.

PDAC says attendees can join the peer- learning conversation on key issues related to responsible exploration and mining, including topics such as a collaboration in the context of the Québec wildfires.

Goldie notes that the Canadian federal government uses PDAC as a platform for important announcements of financing and policy decisions that affect mineral exploration and development.

These special government announcements, and the presence of industry experts from across the globe, helped to make the 2023 PDAC convention one of the biggest events in PDAC’s history.

PDAC 2023 also saw the inaugural Dr Donald M Leishman Convention Experience, established with the support of the Leishman family, which provided an all-expenses-paid opportunity for students to attend the convention.

By enabling students and individuals at an early stage in their careers to participate in the convention, the Leishman Experience helps to fulfil one of PDAC’s goals, which is to develop an inclusive, skilled and diverse workforce.

This year’s PDAC will include keynote speakers including global mining group Rio Tinto CE Jakob Stausholm, who will offer a commodity outlook, while global financial institution World Bank mining lead Michael Stanley will offer a mining industry outlook to the attendees on the Sunday and Monday sessions of the convention, respectively.

The proceeding two days of PDAC – March 5 and 6 – will see global equipment manufacture Caterpillar resource industries group president Denise Johnson and multinational mining company Ludin Group Vicuña exploration team lead Wojtek Wodzicki unpack the ‘Discovery of the Year’ session.

Further, PDAC highlights that the convention will also include segments such as the Capital Markets Programme, a Corporate Presentation Forum for Investors, Exploration Insights and an Indigenous Programme.

This year, an ‘Investment Leaders Forum’ will replace the ‘Letter Writer Presentations for Investors programme’, PDAC reports.

Further, highlights include a master class series, presentation and reception rooms for delegates, as well as a Student and Early Career programme, and sustainability and technical programmes.

The organisers point out that an exhibit set to garner the most attention is the Core Shack – a unique venue where explorers may display their core samples, enabling attendees and investors to learn more about new and ongoing exploration projects in Canada.

Other noteworthy happenings at PDAC include an Indigenous Artists exhibit, a prospector’s tent, an investor exchange area and the PDAC Society of Economic Geologists Student Minerals Colloquium.

Learning from the Best

The master class series will enable students to learn from industry leaders as they share key insights and case studies throughout this exclusive series of presentations.

Offered as a short course, the in-depth educational sessions, led by presenters with expertise in a variety of subject matter, will range from a half-day to two full days in length.

The organisers explain space for the short courses will be limited and seating will need to be reserved before the event.

The Student and Early Career Programme will afford students and early-career individuals the unique opportunity to connect with industry professionals from around the world, helping learners discover a range of careers and attend engaging presentations to stay up to date on industry developments.