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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The city was saturated with geoscientists, mining industry executives, academia and government representatives this week, who all gathered for the 39th annual Yellowknife Geoscience Forum.

NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines executive director Tom Hoefer takes a break at the Capitol Theatre between Yellowknife Geoscience Forum sessions on Wednesday, Nov. 16. The 39th annual event drew about 800 delegates this year. - Thandie Vela/NNSL photo

By Wednesday, the number of registered delegates for the conference was pushing 800, even as some were forced to withdraw due to lack of accommodation.

"We used up every bed and breakfast and every hotel room and we got people even staying at other peoples' homes," said Tom Hoefer, executive director of the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines, which hosted the event along with Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada and the territorial government.

"We've seen a fall in exploration in the territory so we thought that might be reflected in the attendance, but we've actually surpassed last year's slightly, so that's very encouraging."

Attendance at last year's geoscience forum increased from the previous year by about 40 delegates to 780, amid a rebound in mineral exploration in both the NWT and Nunavut, as opposed to a projected decline in exploration spending in the NWT this year.

"I think there's still an interest in the territories, we just have to overcome the investors' uncertainty and investors' concerns," Hoefer said, noting encouraging efforts by the federal government to improve the regulatory process and a memorandum of understanding signed between the chamber and the Akaitcho Dene First Nations this year.

While the bulk of the conference's topics of discussion and technical presentations taking place in the Capitol Theatre on Tuesday and Wednesday covered environmental issues and government and academia geoscience research, several mineral development companies set up booths at the trade show, and sent delegates to the conference.

Joel Hrominchuk, general manager of North American exploration for Vale Exploration, attended the conference for the second time this year, as the company acts on its interest ito get more involved in exploration in the NWT and the far North in general.

"I came to reestablish contacts with companies, government officials, First Nations, service providers, and logistics specialists and so on," Hrominchuk said. "Also to judge the activity level of exploration work going on. And this is a good place to do that."

More than 100 booths were set up in the Weledeh and St. Patrick school gymnasium, and the trade show floor was open to the public from 10 a.m. to noon on Thursday.

The event is said to be the biggest conference in the North, providing a great boost to the city's service industry, Yellowknife Hotel Association president Jenni Bruce said.

"The conference seems to have been growing year by year and it has become a stress on the hotel rooms," Bruce said, noting a poorly planned GNWT meeting also took up a sixth of the city's roughly 900 hotel rooms this week. "They're all completely full.

"This is where a convention bureau would be helpful because they would have been able to flag that it's not a good time to hold your meeting because the geoscience has been held on the same week every year," Bruce said.

"Most people know that it's not a good time to hold your meeting because rooms will be an issue."

The chamber is considering an organized home accommodation program for next year's conference, as the geoscience forum continues to grow.

Its annual general meeting was also held Wednesday afternoon.

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