PDAC 2010: Prospectors - a dying breed?

Journal Team Diary

The first day of the 2010 PDAC convention got off to something of a slow start, despite (or perhaps because of) the continuing good weather.

Footfall around the trade show was slow to get going although the range of material on show was impressive.
Mining ministries from around the world gave a strong showing in the trade exhibition this year, ranging from small booths for the relatively new players such as Yemen and Morocco, to huge pavilions for some of the major mining nations (including Australia, Peru and the Canadian provinces).

The BRIC countries have also made a strong showing this year, with large booths for India, China and Brazil, all keen to encourage business in their burgeoning mining industries.

But the true heart of the PDAC has always been the prospectors.

I was fortunate enough to be at the Mining Journal booth as the cover star of our 2010 exploration supplement, prospector Dave Stevens, stopped by.

Dave has become a reluctant figure of notoriety at this year’s convention, and says he has already been approached by delegates who recognise him from the cover of Mining Journal’s exploration supplement.

But he also had an interesting perspective to share, as we discussed the position of prospectors within the industry.

Dave Stevens talked of prospectors as a dying breed, not appreciated enough by the rest of the industry, but without whom new deposits simply would not be found – an issue address in a panel discussion held in the afternoon.

“They might realise when we’re all gone that there are no new projects coming, and then the youngsters might start coming though,” he says.

The panel discussion at the end of the afternoon session ('Exploration expenditures are increasing but discoveries are not') addressed concerns about depleting resources and why is it that company-making deposits are so elusive.

Discussions focused around junior access to funding and talent, and the ever increasing cost of drilling at ever greater depths, rather than Dave’s concerns about those first prospectors on the ground.

Mr Steven's represents the sentiment, perhaps of many prospectors, that they are the lifeblood of the mining industry, the grass-roots guys on the ground, who keep scouting for those elusive new deposits. But mostly, like many prospectors, I think its simply the enjoyment of that find that keeps him going.

“I have fun just finding the stuff that’s a surprise to be there,” he says, a simple pleasure in a complex industry.