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Northern Ontario Mining Showcase readies for 2016

The Northern Ontario Mining Showcase is cashed up and ready to go for year three.
PDAC-2015_Cropped
The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada annual convention is fertile ground for Northern Ontario mining suppliers to make international contacts.

The Northern Ontario Mining Showcase is cashed up and ready to go for year three.

Those mining supply and service companies interested in displaying their products and services at the 2016 Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) annual convention, as part of a regional pavilion, can start signing up in September.

“It’s first come, first served,” said organizer Marla Tremblay, who is opening registration for exhibitors through her consulting firm – www.markeyconsulting.com – starting Sept. 14.

She’s advising those interested in attending not to wait.

Tremblay is budgeting for 65 exhibitors – up from 55 last March – for the three-day trade show scheduled in early March.

“Based on the interest, I don’t think we’ll have a problem filling 65.”

In late July, FedNor delivered $380,000 to the City of Temiskaming Shores for the regional industry showcase to attend the PDAC annual convention, scheduled for March 6-9 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

The PDAC convention is the world’s leading convention and trade show for companies and organizations connected with the mining industry.

Each year, it attracts more than 1,000 exhibitors and 25,000 representatives from more than 125 countries.

It’s considered a mecca for Northern Ontario mining supply and service companies to make their mark on an international stage by promoting their products, services and expertise, explore new international markets and make contacts.

This will be third consecutive year of the hugely successful Northern Ontario showcase and the second on the convention centre floor after spending its inaugural year in 2013 as a one-day fling at the Steam Whistle Brewery.

The fee to lease a 10-by-10 foot kiosk space in the pavilion will remain at $500, a bargain considering the same space is in excess of $2,000.

“We try and make it accessible to small companies,” said Tremblay.

The scale of the Northern Ontario pavilion stands to get physically larger.

Though she has budgeted for an additional 1,000 square feet of conventional floor space to tack onto the 6,000 square feet leased in March, Tremblay decided to go large and ask PDAC organizers for 2,000 square feet.

“If I can make it work with the budget, I will.”

But it’s tough and coveted ground to secure since those exhibitors who booked space last March have first right of refusal.

The show is open to all service mining companies right across the region.

Tremblay said there are naturally a disproportionate number of northeastern companies that attend PDAC simply because of the amount of mining activity in that area, but she is encouraging more businesses from the northwest to contact her and register.