City will host a dozen delegation's by year's end, city says
The City of Greater Sudbury is rising in prominence as an integrated mining hub in the global mining industry thanks to an increase in the number of mining delegations arriving in the city.
Liam McGill, the manager of investment and business development with the city, says city officials welcomed their tenth delegation this year, this one consisting of mining executives from Colombia. The increase in the number of delegates arriving is encouraging for the city's economy, McGill said.
"We've developed some really good relationships with trade commissioners based in foreign mining jurisdictions such as Colombia, Chile, and Peru," McGill said. "We think there's strong demand for the products and technologies coming out of the Sudbury mining cluster."
"We've got two more slated to take place before the year is up which will give us an even dozen by 2019."
The city has typically hosted a handful of delegations around the time of the annual Prospectors and Developer's Association Conference but this year is a record number spread out through the year, said McGill.
McGill said the makeup of the delegations is often diverse.
"Sometimes these delegations are strictly what I would call like an incoming buying mission," he said. So it's made up of representatives from mining companies in different countries."
"In other cases they might be government officials looking to come here to learn more about mining here in Ontario or they could be academics. In those cases they're sure to work with Laurentian University or Cambrian College or anybody."
The group being hosted currently is a "mix," McGill said, with representatives from all fields visiting.
Paul Bradette, the Director of Business Development with the Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Services Association (SAMSSA,) says delegations pave the way for business relationships.
"When we have incoming missions it's all about connecting our suppliers with global operations. So there's always a benefit to it," Bradette said. "It helps to establish the initial contact so that if there is a fit they can continue to work together and get close in terms of a sale."
Bradette said his group's involvement with the city is a big factor in helping these partnerships along.
"What they do really matters," he said. "And it matters to our members because there's always positive outcomes from nearly every one of these that come through northern Ontario."
Article originally published by CBC News here