Despite attendance at the 2016 Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s (PDAC’s) yearly convention being estimated at just over 22 000 – the lowest in four years – a renewed sense of optimism was to be found within the cavernous halls of the Toronto Convention Centre this week.
Attendance levels were indicative of the damage done to the global mining industry in the wake of sharply lower prices for most commodities. This year’s attendance was a far cry from the 30 147 visitors in 2013, the 25 122 attendees it drew in 2014, and 23 578 in 2015.