7 7 Page 6 Sudbur ys Mining F utur e Contd on pg 8 By Frank Giorno Sudbury is globally renowned as a mining centre that continues to be a major source of nickel copper zinc as well as for its expertise innovations in mining technology On September 12 and 13 Sudbury will be host to the North America Mining Expo NAME a celebration of the Sudbury Mining Cluster that will bring together all the elements and components of mining and highlight its global national regional and local signifcance The North America Mining Expo will attract over 300 participating compa nies and sponsors that will provide opportunities for information sharing networking and the display of the lat est technology Michael Porter the Harvard econo mist who developed the concept of an economic cluster 30 years ago defned them as geographic concen trations of interconnected companies and institutions in a particul ar feld that drive productivity innovation and the creation of new business For 135 years Sudbury and vicin ity has produced nickel copper and quantities of cobalt gold silver and platinum group metals PGMs Sud bury was the lar gest source of nickel in the world and today still is ranked second to only new Russian discover ies Sudbury is the third lar gest source of platinum group metals PGMs after South Africa and Russia The Ontario Mining Association sta tistics indicate that about 30 percent of mining in Ontario takes place in the Sudbury area where mining and mining related activities are a primary source of employment Sudbury s mining future will continue as evidenced by Glencore s recent C900 million investment in the de velopment of its Onaping Depth proj ect and V ale s C760 millio n phase one development of its Copper Clif Deep mine are indications of growing confdence in the future of the region At one point in time during the 1970s Sudbury was a traditional mining camp showing signs of fatigue But cooperation between the mini ng com panies the newly created Regional Government of Sudbury the educa tional institutions the minin g supply sector and others helped to transform the region into a modern economic cluster In explaining the transformat ion Don Duval the Chief Executive Ofcer at NORCA T wrote Over the past 50 years Sudbury has garnered a well deserved global repu tation as a lea der in nearly all facets of the mining industry from explo ration and extraction to fnancing and technology development Ask anyone in our commu nity that works abroad in bur geoning mining jurisdictions about the value of the Sudbury mining brand and you will learn that Sudbury and Canada more broadly are recog nized as having some of the world s leading thinkers and doers in all that is mining Duvall identifed seven key factors which have transformed Sudbury First Sudbury has globally relevant operating mine s that have been oper ating for years This has generated a talented skilled and engage d work force Second Sudbury has wellestab lished academic and research institu tions like Laurentian University Col lege Boreal and Cambrian College These schools are sources of leading edge miningre lated research These schools generate competent gradu ates who are ready for employment in the mining and afliated supply and services sector Third Sudbury has a stable govern ment at the local provincial and fed eral level giving it a great advantage over other mining jurisdictions in the world All three levels of government are actively supporting the mining industry Some areas in other parts of the world with promising mineral mining potential cannot be safely developed because of disor ganized governments civil strive and lack of infrastructure Fourth Sudbury has one of the world s leading mining supply ser vice and technology sectors For years or ganizations such as the Sud bury Area Mining Supply and Ser vices Association SAMSSA have provided outsourced expertise to provide the services needed by V ale Glencore W allbridge KGHM to be successful T oday SAMSSA members are export ing their knowledge and expertise to other mining areas and maki ng their Page 6 S tr ong Page 7