Management and Economics Society
Events & Symposia
Since the late-1970s, the Management and Economics Society, and its predecessors, the Mineral Economics Committee and the Mineral Economics Society, has hosted numerous events and symposia as part of its mandate to provide professional development opportunities in the areas of mineral economics, markets and management.
Over the years these events have taken many forms including:
- MES Symposia on a variety of timely topics,
- MES Stand-alone events on special topics
- MES Management and Finance Day at the CIM AGM annual convention
- Rocks and Stocks professional development series, held jointly by MES and CIM Toronto Branch
MES-hosted Technical Sessions at the CIM AGM annual conventions are listed separately.
MES Symposia
A total of 15 Symposia were hosted by MES in both Toronto and Vancouver:
1980 – “Perspectives on Mineral Evaluation and Forecasting” (Toronto, 16-18 November)
1982 – “Risk Management in Mining” (Vancouver, 21-23 November)
1984 – “Changing Gears – Mining’s New Competitive Structure” (Toronto, November 18-20)
1986 – “Managing for Strategic Advantage” (Vancouver, 11-13 November)
1989 – “Leaders in the Nineties” (Toronto, 24-26 January)
1991 – “Back to Basics: Valuation of Mineral Properties and Companies” (Toronto, 17 January)
1992 – “Back to Basics: Managing the Risks to Reap the Rewards” (Toronto, 16 January)
1992 – “Valuation of Mineral Properties and Companies” (Vancouver, 27 January at Cordilleran Round-Up)
1993 – “Mining 2001: A Canadian Odyssey” (Toronto, 21 January) *
1993 – “Mining in North America: Facing the Issues Head On” (Vancouver, 25 January at Cordilleran Round-Up)
1996 – “Global Opportunities: Emerging Mining Markets” (Toronto, 25 January)
1997 – “Corporate Strategy in Mining: Finding, developing and operating mines in the 1990’s” (Vancouver at Cordilleran Roundup, 27 January) **
1999 – “Shifting Sands … Changing Investment Climates for the International Mining Industry” (Toronto, 25 January)
2000 – Valuation Day (MES event at PDAC, Toronto)
2001 – “Mining in Transition: Consolidation, Returns and Shareholder Value” (Toronto, 22 January)
2003 – “Mining Agreements: Deal Makers and Deal Breakers” (Toronto, 20 January)
2003 – Valuation Workshop (Montreal)
2005 – Knowing the Risks – Don’t Learn Them the Hard Way (Toronto)
2007 – Copper 2007 – International Conference (Toronto)
* The 1993 Symposium “Mining 2001: A Canadian Odyssey” is noted in the CIM Bull as the eighth. In fact, the “Valuation of Mineral Properties and Companies” preceded it in January 1992 at the Cordilleran Round-Up.
** A Symposium planned for 29 September 1997, in Toronto, with the title, “Moose Pasture to Reserves to Riches”, had to be cancelled due to scheduling difficulties.
MES Stand-Alone Events
2000 – “Valuation Day” at Mining Millennium 2000, the joint conference of PDAC and CIM in Toronto (5-10 March).
Hosted by the CIMVal Committee of MES on 8 March. Proceedings were published in book format by CIM.
2005 – “Knowing the Risks, Don’t Learn the Hard Way”, a full-day workshop at the CIM AGM “Mining Rocks!” in Toronto (24 April).
2007 – “Copper 2007” the Sixth International Copper-Cobre Conference in Toronto (25-30 August). Co-organized by the Metallurgical Society of CIM and MES with the Chilean Institute of Mining Engineers, MES convened three sessions which presented a total of 16 papers on copper economics and marketing.
Management and Finance Day
In 2008, the planning committee for the CIM AGM requested MES to host an event that would anchor the Wednesday of the conference which, traditionally, was relatively poorly attended. MES developed “Management and Finance Day” in response to this request, selected themes, and invited speakers. Over the following 10 years, the event achieved the objective and, in 2019, the CIM AGM planning committee modified the conference structure to have “streams” of technical sessions that spanned the three full days of the conference.
2009 – “Living with the Downturn” (Toronto)
2010 – “Perspectives on Valuation” (Vancouver)
2011 – “Financing International Projects: Mines Without Borders” (Montreal)
2012 – “Facing our New Challenges: Minerals for all Seasons” (Edmonton)
2013 – “What You Don’t Know Will Hurt You!” (Toronto)
2014 – “Reading the Market – What Happens Next?” (Vancouver)
2015 – “The Real Cost of Doing Business” (Montreal)
2016 – “Mining in Crisis – Where to from Here?“ (Vancouver)
2017 – “Planning for the Long Term” (Montreal)
2018 – “The Next Big Change: The Economics of Water, Waste and Closure” (Vancouver)
Rocks and Stocks Professional Development Series
In 2013, it was decided that the annual CIM convention would take place in alternate years in Montreal and Vancouver. In order to reflect the fact that Toronto is the largest mining centre in the world, MES and the CIM Toronto Branch jointly developed “Rocks & Stocks” as part of an ongoing Professional Development Series. Rocks & Stocks takes place in Toronto in the fall. It addresses timely and significant topics through a combination of speakers, panel discussions, and open-floor discussions in which everyone participates.
2014 – “Project Risk: The News Ain’t All Bad”
2015 – “The Feasibility Study – Relevance, Value, Expectations”
2016 – “Mining Project Development – What needs to change!”
2017 – “Shaking Up Our Industry – Being Smarter This Time”
2018 – “The Emerging Cycle: Risk Mitigation & Opportunities”
2019 – “Mining’s Pressing Issues – Mine Tailings, Mergers & Acquisitions”
2020 – “What Does the Future Hold? – Mining investments within the Green Economy – A Paradox?”
2021 – “Strategic Minerals: Canada at the Crossroads”
2022 – [“…”]