Mining convention expects 1,500 visitors

No Christmas trees, Laura Skaer told the staff at the Red Lion Hotel at the Park.

No festive decorations, either, she added.

Skaer, executive director of the Northwest Mining Association, made the pronouncement in July, when exhibit space for the NWMA’s 111th annual meeting sold out months ahead of schedule. By eliminating holiday decor for the hotel’s meeting rooms, Skaer saved enough space to squeeze in six more booths.

But the 1,500 mining geologists and executives expected in Spokane next week for the five-day meeting should produce plenty of their own cheer. After years of depressed metals prices, the good times are rolling again for the industry.

Investors are back in the minerals game, buying up stocks of silver, gold and copper companies in their search for “hard assets.” Mine projects that languished at gold prices of $250 per ounce, or silver prices of $4.50 per ounce, are getting a second look.

In fact, the turnaround has been so dramatic that some delegates might be surprised to see a session on the challenges of raising money for new mine projects on this year’s schedule, Skaer said.

“The perception is that gold is trading at $500 per ounce, copper is over two bucks, and silver is over $7, so it must be easy to get financing,” she said. “But that part of the market is still pretty tight. Lots of projects are competing for a relatively small barrel of money.”

One session will feature speakers from Royal Gold, the nation’s largest royalty financing company. “Just about everyone who thinks they’ve got a project is knocking at their door,” Skaer said.

Canadian securities regulators will also be giving a session at the conference. Much of the financing for new mining projects comes out of Canada’s financial markets. The country tightened its securities rules after the 1997 Bre-X Minerals scandal, where a mining company’s stock prices surged past $200 per share before Bre-X officials admitted that high-grade gold samples from an Indonesian deposit were faked. Some of those new rules are now coming into effect, Skaer said.

“It’s taken us a while to recover from Bre-X,” she said. “It’s still in people’s memory bank.”

Several other events, which have become traditions at the conference, are returning this year. A Prospector Poetry Reading, featuring original works, takes place at 6 p.m. on Thursday. It is free and open to the public. The annual “Moose Milk” breakfast, featuring a potent concoction of eggs, cream and Black Velvet, takes place on Friday.

Independent consultants will also host a “hospitality suite” for the 20th year – featuring free booze and networking opportunities for convention delegates. The tradition started during the grim days of a mining downturn in the 1980s, when lots of geologists were laid off and eking out a living as consultants. “They decided to have a party, and it became a real tradition,” Skaer said.