Rich in History & Minerals – Mining in Ontario Ft. the Hon. Minister Pirie
Join mining executives from across Ontario, Canada, alongside the Timmins MPP & Ontario Minister of Mines, George Pirie, for a discussion on the province's mineral resources, the challenges facing the sector and the massive opportunity presented. The panellists are available for live audience questions.
Minister of Mines & MPP Timmins at Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Minister George Pirie was appointed as Minister of Mines by Premier Ford in June 2022. George’s family roots began in the Porcupine over 100 years ago. He is a graduate of Laurentian University and is happily married with two children and three grandchildren. Prior to entering politics, George was a senior mining executive with over thirty-five years of experience in the industry both domestically and internationally. He has held senior positions in the industry for over seventeen years and also has a long history of involvement in the local community. As Mayor of Timmins, George oversaw the largest mining boom in fifty years. He has served on the Mining Association of Canada, the Ontario Mining Association and was also the co-chairman of the Ontario Mineral Industry Cluster Initiative. Locally, in Timmins, he has made a positive impact in his community by serving on the Porcupine Health Unit and as Chairman of the Timmins Police Service. He has also served as Chairman of the Board of Governors with Northern College, co-chaired local United Way campaigns, and served on local hospital boards as well as community associations.
John McCluskey is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Alamos Gold Inc. and has held this position since 2003, when he co-founded the Company with mining hall of famer Chester Millar. Mr. McCluskey is currently a Director of Orford Mining Corporation and a Director at the World Gold Council. Mr. McCluskey is the recipient of the 2023 Viola R. MacMillan Award, given by the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada for showing leadership and a willingness to take risks in the acquisition and development of the Island Gold mine in Northern Ontario. In 2018, he received the Murray Pezim Award for Perseverance and Success in Financing Mineral Exploration by the British Columbia Association for Mineral Exploration, in recognition of his role in the acquisition, financing, and encouragement of successive discoveries at Mulatos, as well as his ongoing success as CEO of Alamos. Mr. McCluskey was also named Ontario’s 2012 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of The Year, based on a judging panel’s assessment of financial performance, vision, leadership, innovation, personal integrity and influence, social responsibility, and entrepreneurial spirit.
Renaud Adams has over 30 years of global mining experience in senior executive positions and operations. Mr. Adams was President and Chief Executive Officer of New Gold Inc. from 2018 to 2022, where he led the strategic repositioning of the company. Prior to New Gold, Mr. Adams was President and Chief Executive Officer of Richmont Inc. from 2014 until the company was sold to Alamos Gold in November 2017. During Mr. Adams' time at Richmont Mines, production at the company's principal mine more than doubled, mineral reserves more than tripled, and costs were reduced to make the Island Gold Mine in Ontario one of the lowest cost operating underground mines in the Americas. From 2011 to 2014, Mr. Adams was Chief Operating Officer at Primero Mining Corporation, and prior to that he was General Manager of IAMGOLD's Rosebel mine in Suriname before being appointed Senior Vice President, Americas Operations. Prior to IAMGOLD, Mr. Adams held various senior operations positions at mining operations located in the Americas. Mr. Adams holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Mining and Mineral Processing from Laval University in Quebec, Canada.
Dan Wilton has more than 25 years of experience in M&A, corporate finance and principal investing in the mining sector, having executed as principal or advised on more than $10 billion of mergers, acquisitions and divestitures and more than $1 billion of financings. Dan was previously a Partner at Pacific Road Capital Management, a mining-focused private equity investment firm with approximately $800 million under management. Prior to joining Pacific Road, Dan's previous roles included Managing Director and Head of the Global Mining and Metals Group at National Bank Financial Inc., Managing Director in Business Development at General Electric based in London, England, and other corporate finance and M&A roles at global financial institutions based in Toronto and New York. Dan is a Director of Providence Living, a residential care and assisted living provider based in Vancouver, BC, and serves on the Audit and Finance and Quality Committees. Dan served on the Board of Providence Health Care for 11 years, including acting as Vice Chair for 6 years and Chair of the Audit and Finance Committee during the financing and approval process for the New St. Paul's development. Dan holds a B.Comm (First Class Honours) from Queen's University and an MBA (with Distinction) from INSEAD in France.
Mr. Skanderbeg was most recently President and CEO of Claude Resources Inc. since November 2014 – which was acquired by Silver Standard Resources Inc. for $337 million. He previously worked for Goldcorp, Inco Ltd. and Helio Resources, holding positions in both exploration and operations. Mr. Skanderbeg is also a director of Wesdome Mines. He holds a B.Sc. from the University of Manitoba and an M.Sc. from Rhodes University, South Africa. He brings extensive experience in the exploration and evaluation of gold systems, operational management, cost and asset optimization and strategic analysis.
Founder, Writer & Analyst at Junior Resource Investing
Matthew Mickleborough, the founder, writer, and analyst of Junior Resource Investing, is praised for his technical yet engaging interview style that extracts nuanced insights from company executives, providing his audience with a thorough understanding of mining and exploration projects beyond traditional sources. As an outsider to the industry, he places a great amount of weight on executive transparency and honesty and works to foster that in his work, ensuring his audience gains genuine and reliable perspectives on investment opportunities.
Replay transcript excerpt
Welcome, everyone, to another sixth panel. This is 1 that I'm looking forward to. Obviously, a lot of big names on this panel, and 1 that's going to be pretty exciting to listen to, I hope. The title of this 1 is Rich in History and Minerals, Mining in Ontario. My name is Matthew Mickleboro of Junior Resource Investing, and I'll be moderating. I will turn it over to the panelists here as quick as I can, but as always, there's just a preamble to clear up. First off, disclaimers. These are going to be fairly standard. Blue Sky Savings will be made. No 1 here is your financial advisor. If you want the full disclaimers, please check the YouTube video. Also, some notes. This is being recorded just so you're aware. And I will do my best. As you can tell, this is a crowded panel. There's 5, including myself here today. So it's going to be a busy panel, but I will do my best to my level best to get your questions involved. So if you do have a question for any 1 of the panelists here today, please stick into the chat and I'll do my best. Otherwise, I'll just do a quick introduction, and I'll pass it off to our panelists here. Turning a resource discovery into an actual producing mine is no easy feat. And if you're in the industry, you understand that perhaps the biggest hurdle to making this happen isn't just what is being mined, the mineral, the grade, or the tonnage, but where. Jurisdiction matters immensely. Do you have the infrastructure required to succeed? Do you have roads and power stations and all the other physical necessities? But do you also have the intellectual infrastructure required? A population of skilled and semi-skilled workers, post-secondary schools teaching the next generation and more? And even further, what government supports are there or aren't ther...
