Resource World Magazine

a p r i l / m a y 2 0 1 5 www.resourceworld.com 5 e d i t o r ' s c o m m e n t s E l l s w o r t h D i c k s o n ellsworth Dickson, Editor-in-Chief email: editor@resourceworld.com t: 604 484 3800 | 1 877 484 3800 A s usual, it was interesting to attend the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) min- ing conference in Toronto. The conference, which attracted 23,578 people from over one hundred countries, is the largest exploration and mining event in the world. PDAC President, Rod Thomas, com- mented, "We consider this a very successful year, attendee feedback has been extremely positive and the number of attendees is similar to last year. The quality of networking and learning oppor- tunities continues to be a prime attractor for attendees." Now into the fourth year of the down- turn in the junior mining sector, the federal government's renewal of the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit was wel- comed. Another positive development was the federal government, in partnership with the Ontario government, announcing the study of an all-weather transporta- tion corridor in the Ring of Fire region of northern Ontario that hosts huge chromite deposits. "The provincial and federal governments in Canada are important partners in creating conditions that allow the mineral industry to flourish nationally and internationally," said PDAC Executive Director, Andrew Cheatle. "We look forward to further build- ing upon the constructive activities that occurred at PDAC 2015." Talking to many resource stock inves- tors and junior mining companies, it was apparent that viewpoints were divided into opposite opinions. Some money-los- ing investors felt that after several years of a downturn in the junior mining sector, maybe this is the 'new normal' and juniors have to make adjustments to live with it, noting that a number of commodities such as gold, copper, iron ore and nickel have fallen in value. Others, notably Rick Rule, Chairman/ Founder of Sprott Global Resource Investments Ltd. and a hugely successful resource stock investor, were very posi- tive. In his presentation, Rule said that in the future we will look back at 2015 as the "good old days" because there is an unprec- edented opportunity to buy quality mining stocks at bargain basement prices. He noted that some companies are trading at a 40% discount to their cash in the treasury. "That's like walking down Front Street (if you can stand the cold!) and handing someone 60 cents who gives you a dollar in return," said Rule. I also talked to some Canadian explorers that were concerned about the downstream implications of accommodating First Nations demands that could result in sig- nificant delays and cost overruns. One thing I did notice, the substan- tial and valuable resources that a number of companies that have built up are not reflected in their share prices. This has caused a real problem; some juniors with significant assets, yet, with a very low share price, can't raise necessary explora- tion funds and some are taking on serious debt. With the ongoing negative investor sentiment, it is hard to find private placees who, naturally, want to see some reasonable capital gains. On the other hand, the president of one junior company told me that many junior explorers are "staggeringly resilient" and an officer of another junior said that he has noticed that contrarians were starting to buy up beaten-down mining stocks and he hoped that was the first step in a gen- eral recovery. A few well financed companies are looking for favourably-priced mineral properties and companies to acquire. See Kaizen Discovery article on page 29. If you are a Rick Rule fan, take heart when he says that in the cyclical mining sector "bear markets are the authors of bull markets." n Mixed viewpoints at PDAC 2015 Exploring for Canadian Diamonds ATV – TSXV

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