PDAC 2023: Chile prepares to exhibit its offer of mining solutions in Canada

For the first time, a group of goods and services solutions companies that work with the mining industry will be part of the delegation, marking a milestone with their participation in the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention.

TORONTO, March 5, 2023 /CNW/ - Chile's national delegation to the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada 2023 (PDAC) convention in Toronto officially launched last week ahead of the conference. The launch was held via video conference and included members located in Antofagasta, Chile along with members located in Ottawa and Toronto, Canada, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquartered in Santiago, Chile.

The ceremony was led by the Undersecretary for International Economic Relations of Chile, José Miguel Ahumada; the Undersecretary of Mining for Chile, Willy Kracht; the Director General of ProChile, Ignacio Fernández; the Canadian Ambassador to Chile, Michael Gort, and the Chilean Ambassador to Canada, Raúl Fernández.

Representatives of the public and private entities that will be present at the PDAC convention (Alta Ley, Sernageomin, Sonami, Cochilco, Enami and InvestChile) plus executives from the companies that will be part of the first trade mission at PDAC also attended the launch of the delegation last week in Chile.

There are seven companies participating in the Chilean delegation this year: Mine Class, JRI Ingeniería S.A., Inversiones, Desarrollo y Asesoría en Ingeniería, Prevsis, Ingeniería y Construcciones Salas Hnos. Ltda., Pessa S.A. and Geoatacama, along with the Association of Industrialists of Antofagasta.

"We are very happy because for the first time we are taking a group of seven companies with high technological development to show their offer of goods and services in Canada; we hope that new business opportunities arise for them," said the Trade Commissioner of ProChile in Canada, Carolina Vásquez.

Additionally, Vásquez invited the companies to continue working with ProChile to "diversify and add value to our offer and to continue adding small and medium-sized companies to international trade and to be able to reach more destination markets."

Mining Undersecretary, Willy Kracht, added that, "The mining business requires innovation, and, in its development, there is a lot of local value creation that is done in Chile. So why not show that we are not only capable of contributing minerals for the energy transition, but that we can also export mining and ways of doing mining? With this objective, we decided to give our country's participation in PDAC 2023 a new air this year. This calls us today to go to Toronto with a large delegation with which we seek to show the Chile mining country brand, where we export mining, not only minerals."

Exports from Chile to Canada in 2022

Total exports from Chile to Canada in 2022 exceeded US$ 1,362.7 million, which is an annual increase of 11.42%. Total exports from Chile to Canada reached US$ 1,222.1 million in 2021.

Of the total US$1,362 million of goods and services that Chile exported to Canada in 2022, US$576.5 million corresponded to goods, US$773 million to copper and US$13.1 to services. These shipments represent increases of 24%, 3%, and 75% over the same shipments during 2021, respectively.

The primary goods that Chile exported to Canada in 2022 are salmon and trout, with shipments totaling to more than US$91.9 million, which was 57% more than in 2021, silver articles with shipments of more than US$58.5 million and wood panels with shipments of more than US$25.8 million, which was 6% more than in 2021.

The primary services that Chile exported to Canada in 2022 were engineering services for extractive copper mining facilities with sales of more than US$ 4.4 million, which were 279% more than in 2021, carrier telecommunications services for international telephone calls in transit, originating and ending abroad with sales of US$1.7 million, which were 26% less than in 2021 and engineering services for copper metallurgy facilities with sales of more than US$ 1.3 million, which were 67% more than in 2021.

About PDAC

PDAC's annual convention is the world's leading mineral exploration and mining event. It opens on March 5, 2023 at the Metro Toronto Convention Center. It is estimated to bring together more than 25,000 investors, analysts, sector executives, geologists, and government officials from more than 130 countries. Due to its history and tradition, the annual PDAC Convention has become a platform for networking, exchanging ideas on industry trends and discovering new technological advances applicable to the industry.

Chile began its participation in 2006 with a private business delegation and since 2007, it began to participate with a pavilion at the fair. On this occasion, the national delegation will be present in a 56 m2 space located in booth 1349. The Inauguration of the Chile Pavilion is set for 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 5, while the Seminar "Chile: Leading a journey towards traceable, transparent and responsible mining" is set for 9:00 a.m. on Monday, March 6.

Other activities organized by Cesco will be running during the convention, including a networking session at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, March 6, and the Chile Continuous Success Seminar at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, March 7.

Photos

SOURCE ProChile

Taylor Jantzi, Global Public Affairs, [email protected], 416-575-5366; Sophia Yan, Global Public Affairs, [email protected], 416-578-2079