It is Mining Week in Vancouver and the anchor for all the buzz is arguably the AME Roundup, which runs from January 22nd to the 25th at Vancouver Convention Center West in Vancouver, British Columbia. This conference is a favourite of industry veterans and it’s my pleasure to share an interview with Mr. David Gale, Chair of the Roundup Organizing Committee. A big thank you to the event sponsors and everyone who is working hard to make the event a success.
Peter Bell: Hello David. Thanks for talking with me today in the days leading up to Roundup 2018. As the chair of the technical committee helping to organize the AME Roundup conference, I imagine you are very busy.
David Gale: You’re welcome Peter. It certainly is a busy time, but things are well in hand.
I’d like to start by saying thanks to the great staff employed at AME and the volunteers who help organize the technical content for the conference. There is a whole team of us who help pool our technical resources to ensure that Roundup has an excellent technical lineup.
Peter Bell: I poked around the AME website a bit today and saw some informative material about the history of conference. Stories that I hadn’t seen before about where the conference came from with Bob Cathro, Nick Carter, and Jack Patterson. The conference goes back to 1984 and this is the 35th annual event. I wonder where in that 35-year history you came on the scene?
David Gale: Well, I might have trouble putting a specific date on it but I am coming up on my ninth year as a board member. I've been on the Roundup volunteer committee for close to eight or nine years, as well. It’s been a good chunk of time. Almost a third of the history of the Roundup, if you will.
Roundup has evolved over time and has built on a core group companies based here in Vancouver that explore throughout BC, the Yukon, the rest of Canada and beyond. This event is special because of all the expertise of the people that are based here and the willingness of these people to volunteer and help make the event a success.
Peter Bell: Last year was my first year attending and I was really impressed. I only saw a few speeches, but the ones I saw were great. Neil Adshead’s stands out for me. And everything else through to the children’s educational activities – it seemed like a well thought out event with something for everyone.
David Gale: Thanks for the vote of confidence, Peter. We do try to appeal to as many people as we can as our geological community is quite varied. That said, what sets us apart from other conferences is our technical content. We focus on bringing a very technical line-up for all the geologists that are based here or are able to travel to Vancouver for the event.
It started off as a summary or roundup of all of the government activities in British Columbia. We still focus on that and provide updates on what government are doing to help people explore smarter and explore better, but we really try to build upon that with technical sessions.
This year there's a technical session called “Think Zinc”. You may know that there has been a resurgence in the price of zinc and exploration for zinc. We want to provide information on important stories like that. That's just one of many sessions that provides technical content for our attendees.
Peter Bell: Last year there was an announcement of the results of a large government-funded airborne geophysical survey. I haven't seen any mention of anything quite like that this year. Do we know if anything like that is coming again this year?
David Gale: You’re referring to Geoscience BC, Peter, which is not directly affiliated with AME. There are similar people involved and they usually time their data releases with the Roundup. They are funded by government and industry to gathered specific information in certain areas. They've been acquiring data this past summer in various surveys across the Province, so there should be something coming up but I don’t know if they will be releasing it this year or later in the winter.
Peter Bell: And you mentioned “Think Zinc” -- what fun. I see in the daytimer that it is a three-hour session on Tuesday afternoon right after the Finance Lunch with Sean Roosen from Osisko. These days are jam packed.
David Gale: They certainly are. There are always technical sessions going on at the same time.
The focus of our programming changes every year. It's always a challenge to pick what is going to be current for the conference in January months in advance. With the zinc sessions, there will be geoscientists from universities and several companies to provide information on their efforts looking for zinc. I'm really looking forward to that one.
Another classic is the “Commodities Session” on Tuesday morning. The theme is always there, but the line-up of speakers changes every year. This year is an excellent line-up of speakers that are well versed in each commodity and I'm really looking forward to that one, too.
Peter Bell: I see Dr. Stephen Piercey's name listed as the anchor in the zinc session. He is a professor at Memorial University in the NSERC-Altius Industrial Research Chair. Great to see Altius funding research positions in the universities alongside the Canadian Government with NSERC there.
David Gale: Very much so. Altius has been very successful. I'm not particularly familiar with them, but I am from Newfoundland and am very familiar with Steve Piercey and the work he does at Memorial University. It's really good to see him coming out this year. And I agree with you that it is good to see companies in a position to give back to research in a way that ultimately helps the industry overall.
Peter Bell: How about these short courses before the event? They are competing with the Cambridge House Vancouver Resource Investors Conference happening the 2 days before Roundup, but these are something else entirely. The Capital Markets for Geologists session looks great.
David Gale: We try to provide a pretty broad line up of courses to appeal to all the people coming in. We've been able to really nail it this year. A big part of that is the numbers that we're seeing in registrations.
We track all of the registration numbers leading up to the conference and we're projecting that if all of the numbers hold then total registration will be upwards of 10% greater than last year. It may look like a different event from what you are familiar with from last year, Peter. It is going to be bigger and that will be seen in the short courses, as well.
And all of that goes back to the technical content that I mentioned at the outset, Peter. We try to set the Roundup apart from other conferences happening this week in Vancouver. I think a lot of the events are trying to take advantage of who we are bringing into town, which is great. The more people we can all bring in, the better. Whether it’s Structural Geology or Capital Markets or events focused on students!
As you know, there are a lot of events for students that recently graduated. WE try to help give them a toehold in the industry by giving them background on how to look for work and where to go for jobs. We try to keep a well-rounded line up to appeal to as many people as we can.
Peter Bell: I had a laugh when I was reading the history of the event on the AME website because Bob Cathro apparently made a comment in his President's report from the first Roundup in 1984 that “1982 was the worst year ever for the Vancouver exploration community”. I thought it was interesting to think how they rallied out of that tough time because it sounds familiar! Great to hear that you expect to see big increases to registration numbers.
David Gale: That’s right, Peter. We always have a little tag line for the event, a theme to carry through all the different people’s talks and sessions – the title of this years’ conference is a “New Generation of Discovery”. We came up with that title back in February 2017. Even then, we perceived that there is a resurgence coming. And we have saw that through the summer of 2017 with increased exploration spending, increased interest from the stock market in what we do.
Things are going well and this is reflected in the attendance numbers. I think there's a definite buzz in the air that I think's going to translate to a lot of enthusiasm for people at the conference.
Peter Bell: Interesting to see an Innovation Stage and a Project Generator Hub this year. Those are two new features that I hadn't seen last year. They sound like good additions.
David Gale: Some parts of the line-up are the same every year. Things like exploration activities in British Columbia, the Yukon, and Alaska. Other sessions on Canada and International Discoveries. We want to keep those going, but we also want to keep things changing and try to bring in new interest and new people. We tried three new things this year. You summarized two of them.
The Project Generators Hub is something that we thought would go over well. It has to do with a type of company that is integral to our industry, which are prospect generators. Indeed, these are people that are really good at exploring for various commodities and coming up with targets in various jurisdictions. They're looking for partners to champion their ideas, usually with some financial backing.
As our sector comes out of the doldrums, people start looking for projects. That’s why we made a central spot on the exhibit hall floor for six companies per day to show people what they have available in their project portfolio. We are really excited about that. Six companies per day, 18 different displays.
And you mentioned the Innovation Hub. This is something new. We have close to 10 companies that are going to be showing new things that could help change our industry.
A third one you didn’t mention is a set of talks on the Latin America Cordillera. We always focus on Northern Cordillera Mountain Range, which is the mountain range that goes up and down BC, the Yukon, and Alaska but it doesn't stop there. It actually goes all the way down to South America!
We have a breakout session on some of these jurisdictions, helping people understand the economics of exploring in jurisdictions like Mexico, Peru, and Argentina. Then, there will be technical summaries of the geology of these jurisdictions. I'm looking forward to that session as there are a whole ream of companies based in Vancouver that explore in those jurisdictions. We are trying to help shine a light on that part of the world with the high-level of technical information that is so important to us.
Peter Bell: Wonderful. Always so many companies to mention, but I will say that Keith Barron and Aurania Resources are actually having a conference call later today with Red Cloud Klondike Strike. They may have more of a presence in Toronto, but I believe their projects in Ecuador fit well with that theme. I’m sure there will be some interests amongst the geologists to find out what he's up to down there.
David Gale: Agreed, Peter. And there are a lot of great exploration success stories across the Roundup this year, too. As I said, there's been a resurgence with more money being spent on exploration and that should translate into discovery. These discoveries, whether they are local or international, can really help draw people into the conference.
Another key feature that I hope you noticed last year, Peter, is our Core Shack. People always talk about our Core Shack. It's an opportunity for companies that have some exploration success behind them to show their drill core and convince geologists of what they have. There are 30 companies presenting on Monday and Tuesday, then another 30 companies on Wednesday and Thursday. 60 companies where geologists can get excited about the rocks, which is basically what we do.
People are clamoring to get into the Core Shack and it's really good to see that we have the interest. It's going to be another great part of the Roundup.
Peter Bell: Big fan of the Core Shack, David. Another thing I really like about Roundup was the Prospectors Tent! The chance to talk to some of those guys was special – above and beyond what I saw at the Core Shack.
David Gale: And if you go back to the Prospect Generator Hub then you can start to see the whole pipeline of the exploration industry. We have the prospectors who are on the ground, finding the projects, and doing the early-stage work to find interest projects that lead into to the prospect generators who have the ideas and find the funding to get the ideas off the ground. Then you have the Core Shack. It's the whole life cycle or pipeline of the exploration industry. It’s great to see how these three parts of the exhibit hall actually work together in the industry. It gets to get them all together because to keep the industry moving and making new discoveries.
Peter Bell: Agreed. Any tips on how to survive the pace?
David Gale: The key thing is to pace yourself. Check our day-timer, which you get with the standard registration package. It provides a schedule at a glance that outlines all the various features. There are things that overlap, but hopefully you can bounce around the conference to find what excites you. The key thing for me is the Core Shack. You see the people in the Core Shack and you find out the stories there. Then you can go into the talks, meet with people and have meetings. It's all there for you.
Another thing I would mention are our keynote speakers. These are some high-quality people. We have Kelvin Dushnisky, the President of Barrick Gold opening up the conference on Monday morning. He'll provide Barrick's perspective on the industry and what they think of exploration. Sean Roosen is another keynote speaker that we've been able to secure at the Finance Lunch on the Tuesday afternoon. It helps generate a lot of buzz when leaders like that can share their perspective on the industry.
Peter Bell: And I thought Mr. Corrie Pitzer looked pretty funny too. His bio mentions his experience as an underground miner, a platoon commander, a skydiver, rally car driver and says that, “As a result of all this, he became a risk expert not a safety one.” I had to laugh at that!
Thank you for your involvement with the AME Board and the Roundup. I gather you also work at SSR Mining, which is a fairly substantial mid-tier producer that I was not particularly familiar with. What's your role there?
David Gale: I recently started working with them in September as Senior Geologist. I help the Chief Geologist here in Vancouver in a technical role where I try to solve some technical questions at our various active mine sites. We have three mines and are actively looking at new opportunities. I'm helping our team with that as well. It's a great group of people to work with and the company has a substantial cash position, which puts us in a situation where we can consider a number of opportunities.
Peter Bell: So interesting to hear of a mining company that has a good cash position. How quickly things can change, eh?
David Gale: Indeed, Peter. I think we're going to see a lot of activity this year. People are going to be in a better spot to raise money and, hopefully, this translates into exploration work that leads directly to discoveries. That's what our industry needs to get people interested again and for investors to come back and follow the stories of these companies.
Peter Bell: I am not a geologist myself, but am pretty engaged with the industry and it's amazing how much learning is possible with these companies, whether it’s about the geology or the markets. It's a sophisticated business with technically-minded people all over the place. Great to see an industry where an engineer can have some celebrity. I think that helps raise the level of discourse, which is needed since the exploration industry often gets a bad rep for excessive promotion.
David Gale: It’s nice to hear that you've been able to learn a lot, Peter, since that’s a key goal for us at Roundup. We want to make it so that people at all levels of the discussion can benefit from the event. Learning to appreciate the people and the personalities that lead to successes is a big part of that. The people and the relationships that we have are key.
Peter Bell: Mr. David Gale, thank you very much.
Visit the website for more info: http://roundup.amebc.ca/
