SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The Geoscience Forum saw 750 delegates come through its doors last week, and despite having drawn 90 fewer delegates than in 2008, organizers were surprised the number was as high as it was.

Corey Segboer, operations manager for Aurora Geosciences' Yellowknife branch, said fewer potential clients met with his company at the Geoscience trade show this year. Because of the economic downturn, fewer junior mining companies looking to exploit Northern resources turned up at the fair this year, compared to the last three. - Andrew Livingstone/NNSL photo

Cheryl Wourms, office manager at the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines, said the chamber set expectation levels for attendance at 700. She said they were pleased with the higher than expected turnout, even though several of last year's attendees declined this year.

"It's extraordinary," said Wourms. "I was gauging the number of delegates based on the e-mails and phone calls and responses I was getting from last year's exhibitors, which we had many decline attending this year's event."

Wourms said out of 108 trade show spots available, 103 were filled.

"We have lots of new (exhibitors)," Wourms said of the some 20 new exhibitors who showcased their product during the three-day trade show. "Some have been on our wait list for a couple years so they were grateful their was the downturn in the economy so they could get in.

"It's good to have some new blood, it changes up the show a little bit."

Mike Vaydik, general manager for the chamber, said junior mining companies were not expected to turn out in large numbers because of the economic downturn, but attendance was better than predicted.

"It went a lot better than we anticipated," he said.

"With the sharp drop-off in exploration, we expected there to be a lot less in the junior mining companies," which was the case, said Vaydik, "but it wasn't as bad as we anticipated.

"A lot of companies indicated they didn't really have anyone to attend because they had laid off so many staff."

Vaydik said there is a cloud of uncertainty around mining and exploration for the coming year, because of the economic slowdown.

"It's not something we haven't seen before," Vaydik said of the drop in exploration. "People are used to cyclical changes in markets for mining. This one was different.

"It's a lot deeper and we don't know when it's going to recover. Commodity prices have been (going) up, gold is up, but it still seems to be an unwillingness for people who fund our operations to part with some bucks. So we will have to see."

The low junior mining turnout at the trade show made it a slow week for Corey Segboer, operations manager for Aurora Geosciences' Yellowknife branch.

"Most years it's a great networking environment. You get a lot of the junior mining companies coming in and you get that face-to-face with potential clients," Segboer said.

"Usually you get quite a few here. Everyone is trying to sell something to exploration industry, but there aren't a lot of people here to buy. It's too bad."

Aurora Geoscience helps stake properties and perform geological surveys and mapping to help find potential for resource projects and Segboer said the potential for new projects just wasn't there.

"The previous four or five years, we'd be swamped and a dozen jobs lined up in the first couple days," said Segboer. "It's not the same this year. People are saving their money and its a bit tighter. A lot more phone calls and e-mails."