PDAC’s award-winning Convention has always been unmatched in its ability to connect attendees with industry experts and presenters from across the globe. PDAC 2024 will be no different, and we are excited to see attendees in Toronto this March engage with our world-class roster of international figures from the mineral exploration and mining development community.

As PDAC 2023 saw over 23,000 attendees from 133 countries, PDAC’s Convention Planning Committee (CPC) were strong advocates for including more diverse and influential voices for 2024’s Convention.

Sunday’s featured Technical Program session, titled “Future of Commodities in Volatile Markets” will host world-renowned Canadian economist Mark Carney, plus a star-studded CEO panel on critical metals. Currently the UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance, Carney is also the Chair of Brookfield Asset Management and Head of Transition Investing where, he is focused on the development of products for investors that combine positive social and environmental outcomes with strong risk-adjusted returns.   

Presenting with Mark Carney during this session will be Sonia Scarselli – Vice President, BHP Metals Exploration & BHP Xplor. Sonia’s experience has seen her hold key roles across the globe in Algeria, Trinidad and Tobago, Switzerland the UK, and currently leads a custom team at BHP that supports prospectors with innovative and breakthrough methods to find new mineral deposits.

Related to the exploration of new deposits, Convention attendees will want to see Nicole Januszczak presenting in the “Accelerating the transformation” technical session. Nicole brings over 20 years of exploration experience from across the world. She is Practice Lead Predictive Capability, Metals Exploration for BHP, leading teams around the globe across a range of commodities, applying innovative methods to create significant change to accelerate the discovery of new economic deposits.

From prospecting to politics, another must-attend session is “Geopolitical risks and international perspectives in mining”, hosted by Gracelin Baskaran – who has presented in countries around the world. As a mining economist, she has published over 100 op-eds, columns, reports and papers, as well as being cited as an expert in the Washington Post, Politico, Fox, Bloomberg, Foreign Policy, Voice of America, Energy Intelligence and the US International Trade Commission and more.

Also a leading international figure in the industry is Emily Olson, who is a presenter in the panel discussion for the “Decarbonization journeys of different sized mining companies” session. Emily has two decades of experience in London, the United States, Russia and Europe, creating and driving strategies for development projects that promote sustainable and inclusive global relationships involving governments, economic partners and stakeholders.

Another featured Technical session with a world-renowned expert is “Orogenic gold: Deep and epizonal systems”. An engaging presentation on the global impact of orogenic mineralization systems will be presented by Richard Goldfarb, who holds more than four decades of experience as an exploration geologist, researcher and professor. He has also written over 200 publications and given hundreds of keynote addresses and workshops in over 30 countries. An award-winning specialist, Richard spent 36 years as a senior research geologist at the United States Geological Survey, focussing on global metallogeny and orogenic gold. Currently he is a geological consultant, an overseas professor at the China University of Geosciences, and a research professor at the Colorado School of Mines.

Related to mine economics is the session titled “Large gem diamonds and their influence on mine economics” which includes a presentation by Evan Smith – a Senior Research Scientist at the Gemological Institute of America, who’s work has contributed to the growing view that diamonds are some of the most scientifically valuable samples of our planet. Smith’s findings have been published in the distinguished publications such as Science, Nature, The Economist, The Washington Post, as well as being featured by NPR.

The industry leaders we’ve highlighted in this editorial are just a few of the hundreds of professional and engaging presenters attendees will experience during the world-class programming at PDAC 2024.