Finex 2018, where exploration met the city – Josh Powell reviews another successful event in London for MiningIR
1-5%, that is the direct attribution that mining makes towards the GDP ( Gross Domestic Product) of developed countries, it can be as high as 10% in the less developed world. Indirectly however 40-50% of a countries GDP can be affected by a large-scale mining operation. Ranging from mechanics for fleets of vehicles to the bar that has suddenly get hundreds of well-paid customers looking to relax at the end of a shift.
All of this wealth relies on an extraordinarily diverse group of people working together in perfect sync to extract the basic resources we all desire. This group of professionals varies from the local chief or provisional governor to rock loving geologist to high flying fast talking money men and very powerful & dangerous political. So how does this paradoxically incompatible group of people march at the same tune? The answer: stuff them in one enclosed area, provide booze and ensure the subjects being discussed following a central theme, Mining.
Mines of Money and the Canadian PDAC are excellent examples of this. Huge numbers of people travel from all other the world just to attend. Now a new player has arrived. FINEX (Finance and exploration), this new event is growing fast and has ambitions to expand.
All three of these events do their best to push people of various backgrounds into the same room where hopefully a newly graduated geologist can rub shoulders with veteran brokers. This fosters communication which leads to understanding which hopefully leads new deposits being opened up.
FINEX is a relatively new event this being its 6th occurrence. How it separates itself from other conferences is with two main differences. This conference focus on the underappreciated aspect of mining, exploration. Its low impact on the environment goes unnoticed and most field exploration is not fruitful so it receives little press. Although the talks followed a central theme their was still plenty of variation ensuing the conferences doesn’t get stale.
The second factor is its inclusion, a huge range of people from all aspects of the industry including students and graduates were invited to attend.
Passing on information to the next generation is vital. Giving them a chance to see, meet and talk to brokers, senior geologist, financier and shakers. Allowing them to get their name out into the circuit and improve their chances of both employment and contribution. Company looking for future hires would be advised to attend just to talk to the geology students and see if they can find a diamond in the rough.
As the years pass and FINEX grows It will be interesting to see if this newly emerging event can reach the size of its competition and weather it stays true to its original path.
Written by Josh Powell for MiningIR – Follow Josh’s articles HERE including a great review of Rwandan cobalt mining.
MiningIR.com hosts a variety of articles from a range of sources, our content, while interesting, should not be considered as formal financial advice. Always seek professional guidance and consult a range of sources before investing.
