This week thousands of participants of the global mining industry will congregate in Toronto for PDAC 2023, the World’s Premier Mineral Exploration and Mining Convention. For the first time in a while, this year’s conference will boast a large presence of UK Government attendees, signposting the Government’s active engagement and commitment to developing the UK’s future in critical minerals and mineral extraction.
This will be the second international mining conference within the span of a month that Minister Nusrat Ghani MP, the UK Minister of State for the Department for Business & Trade, will be attending. Minister Ghani has just wrapped up a week in Cape Town at Indaba 2023, a major mining convention where she met with UK mining companies and consultancies, and highlighted her support for the sector.
In partnership with the Critical Minerals Association, the British High Commission in Canada is delighted to host a breakfast networking reception at PDAC, welcoming stakeholders from across the value chain to promote UK expertise in mining and bolster the valued and historical partnership between the UK and Canada. The event poses a unique opportunity for industry to meet the UK’s Deputy High Commissioner and other government officials from the UK and Canada. The event will be Monday, 6th March at 8:00-10:00 ET.
This breakfast reception, alongside the UK Government’s booths—run by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and Department for Business & Trade respectively— are important examples of increasing UK Government action on critical minerals. Critical minerals are invaluable to the manufacturing of our modern and renewable technologies, and are instrumental for the energy transition. But geopolitical tensions, trade wars, and the impact of the pandemic have demonstrated how fragile our critical mineral supply chains are. In the past year, the Critical Minerals Association, with the help of its members, has helped push critical minerals further to the forefront of the UK’s industrial strategy agenda.
In 2022, the CMA was referenced in the UK Government’s first Critical Minerals Strategy, Resilience for the Future, where many of the CMA’s recommendations were featured. What is now more important than ever is delivery of the strategy. The UK cannot grow complacent, especially when nations such as Canada are investing billions into critical mineral supply chains.
Minister Ghani’s commitment to engaging with the mining industry and other related sectors is an encouraging step in the right direction, and makes a strong statement— that the UK is waking up to the importance of developing responsible, sustainable, and alternative critical mineral supply chains for a net-zero future.
If you're attending PDAC, make sure to drop by the UK Government booth at 6409N and meet BGS & Cornwall Trade & Investment. Visit CMA members at PDAC: Satarla at booth 6126N, SRK Consulting at booth 113, Cornish Metals at booth 2545.
Come and meet the CMA at PDAC at the UK Government booth, 6409N, on Wednesday 8th March at 10:00am ET!
Article by Eileen Maes, Public Affairs & Communications Associate, CMA
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