Mines and Money blog - 02/12/09

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Publishing Date: 02 Dec 2009 4:26pm GMT
Author: Blake Wilshaw

Mines & Money 2009 started Wednesday on a strong note.

The final day of any financial conference is usually a low-key affair, with most delegates either too tired or already heading home. Thankfully, this wasn’t the case with the closing day of Mines & Money.

An early start didn’t deter about 100 delegates who were in attendance for the morning presentations, which focused on mining infrastructure. Particularly interesting was Peter Onley from Golders Associates, who talked about the pros and cons of private ownership of rail lines, a big issue among the major iron-ore producers in Western Australia.

Shortly after, Equinox’s Craig Williams used the example of his company’s Lumwana copper mine in Zambia, on how to best work with government to reach mutually-beneficial infrastructure outcomes.

This led nicely into this afternoon’s much-anticipated session on investment in Africa.

On the exhibition floor, the mood was also upbeat. It wasn’t hard to tell that people’s moods and attendee numbers were definitely up from Mines & Money 2008, which unfortunately coincided with a low point during the global financial crisis. Based on feedback from delegates, 2010 is going to be a much improved year for the global mining sector.