Resource World Magazine

p e r son a l i t y p r o f i l e Tom Schroeter – has seen a lot of change in his 40 years in the mining industry by Peter Caulfield Tom Schroeter, president, CEO and director of Vancouver-based Fjordland Exploration Inc. [FEX-TSXV], is one of a kind in the British Columbia mining and exploration industry, with years of experience in both public and private sectors. Schroeter was employed for more than 34 years by the provincial government. From 1973 to 1986 he was district geologist with the BC Department of Mines and Petroleum Resources in Smithers, BC. In 1986 he moved to Vancouver and became senior regional geologist and manager of the Vancouver Mineral Development Office, where his job was to stimulate and promote exploration and development in British Columbia. In 2007, Schroeter retired from the provincial government and joined Fjordland Exploration, a Vancouver-based exploration company with projects in the Quesnel Terrane goldcopper porphyry belt. Schroeter's lengthy and diverse career has given him a valuable vantage point from which to observe and comment on mining and exploration in BC. He notes primarily the substantial changes that occurred in industry during his involvement. For example, the level of support from the provincial government has often depended on which political party was in power. "The Barrett NDP government between 1972 and 1975 had a disastrous impact on the industry," Schroeter reflects. "Because of the threat of the government increasing the mineral royalty rates, there was almost no exploration or development in the province." Between 1992 and 2000, when there were more NDP governments in power, the government's alienation of the Windy Craggy copper-gold-zinc-cobalt mine proposal in northwestern BC and the globalization of 60 www.resourceworld.com Schroeter's lengthy and diverse career has given him a valuable vantage point from which to observe and comment on mining and exploration in BC. He notes primarily the substantial changes that occurred in industry during his involvement. the mining industry in 1992 led to a flood of risk capital dollars and personnel leaving the province for more mining-friendly jurisdictions. "The result was a decade of significantly declining exploration expenditures in British Columbia and many mine closures," Schroeter said. "In 1999, there was record low exploration of only $29 million." The situation improved when the Social Credit Party and the BC Liberal Party were in government in the late 1970s, the 1980s and after 2001. "Those governments were certainly sympathetic to the mining sector, but they never championed it," Schroeter said. "The ministries that have looked after mining have always played second fiddle to the ministries responsible for other resources in the province." Despite these ups and downs, Schroeter says, the hard work of explorers over these periods has led to the current – and unsurpassed – number of proposals for more than 50 new mines and major mine expansions in february 2013

• Cover