“What’s after gold?” theme of PDA

It’s that time again — or almost.

The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada is gearing up once more for its annual convention, billed as Canada’s largest mineral industry gathering.

It starts March 8 running through March 11, and as usual it will be held in Toronto, at the city’s Royal York Hotel. In fact all 55 of the PDA’s conventions have been held in the Queen City, and that tradition seems unlikely to change, according to the association.

The theme for this year’s event, “What’s After Gold,” poses a very good question, and the association has lined up an impressive program of seminars, technical sessions, and special speakers to deal with the question as well as with other aspects of the current mining industry scene.

The keynote session on Monday morning, March 9, for instance, will include an address by John Lutlay, managing director of the prestigious Gold Institute, who will talk on the subject The global outlook for gold — the next five years.

That seminar address will be followed immediately by another, on platinum, by L. George Bonar, until recently world marketing vice-president for Falconbridge Ltd. That too, will be in the nature of a global review, of a metal that has been rivalling gold as a metal to watch.

The same day, the convention will be addressed, at a joint luncheon of the PDA and the Canadian Club of Toronto, by Gerald Merrithew, federal minister of state for forestry and mines.

The Monday afternoon sessions will deal with platinum case histories, including the much-in-the- news Madeleine Mines’ Lac Des Isles deposit in northwestern Ontario, (to be covered by Madeleine President J. P. Sheridan), and Fleck Resources’ Marathon deposit, also in Ontario, (J. P. McGoran, president).

The platinum theme will be continued on Tuesday morning, with a seminar on platinum group metal exploration, including an overview of the geology of PGM by David Watkins, Carleton University, Ottawa.

The afternoon will switch themes to finance and incentives, highlighted by addresses on flow- through share financing, by Basil Kalymon, professor of finance at the University of Toronto, and on tax reform, by David Dodge, assistant deputy minister, tax policy, department of finance, Ottawa.

On the final day, Wednesday, delegates will be addressed at a joint luncheon of the PDA and the CIM Toronto Branch by Peter Steen, chairman and president of International Corona Resources.

In the morning of the last day, there will be a seminar on modern drilling technology, followed in the afternoon by presentations on new discoveri es, including the Metalore Resources’ gold discovery in Ontario’s Beardmore area, and Seabright Resources’ find in Nova Scotia.