TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The Ontario government on Monday said it would host the first-ever North American leg of the yearly Mines and Money conference series in September 2016, with a second leg slated for September 2017.
For 13 years, Mines and Money had been hosting shows in other global mining hubs such as London, in the UK, as well as in Hong Kong and Australia.
Ontario’s Ministry of Northern Development and Mines said it would host and co-sponsor the Mines and Money Americas mining finance and investment forum, which would serve as a knowledge sharing and business matchmaking platform.
Ontario joined a group of 15 other co-sponsors that supported Mines and Money Americas. The province expected to invest $235 000 for each of the two years it will host the forum, for a total investment of $470 000, or about C$608 000.
The organisers noted that previous Mines and Money events had pulled more than 3 000 investors, although the latest Hong Kong show attracted just more than 1 500 delegates. The last three years had been brutal on the mining industry as it navigated a downturn, which saw people inevitably cut their travel and events budgets.
Toronto also played host to the yearly Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada convention, which had attracted record attendance of more than 30 000 attendees when the market was positive. Attendance at the mining show had, however, slumped to nearly 23 600 attendees this year.