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NWT geology community members meet Yellowknife Geoscience Forum marks 40th year with growth
Thandiwe Vela
Northern News Services
Published Friday, November 16, 2012
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Hundreds of geologists and explorers met in Yellowknife this week for the annual Geoscience Forum, presenting plans, updates, and findings while meeting with NWT industry types.
Tom Hoefer, executive director of the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines, said registration for this year's event surpassed 800 for the second year in a row this week. - Thandiwe Vela/NNSL photo |
Tom Hoefer, executive director of the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines, and 2012 Yellowknife Geoscience Forum conference co-ordinator Cheryl Wourms said registration for this year's event surpassed 800 for the second year in a row.
By noon on the second official day of the forum on Wednesday, 805 people had registered for the event, and more were arriving and joining the conference as the event stretched on to Thursday.
The Yellowknife Geoscience Forum is continuing to gain prominence as a promoter of exploration and mining in the North, Hoefer said Wednesday, as delegates split time visiting more than 100 trade show exhibits at the Weledeh Catholic School gym, holding sidebar meetings with new and familiar contacts, and attending geologist talks at the Capitol Theatre on energy in the North, geoscience, and new discoveries.
"People are giving updates on their mapping projects and on what they're finding, and industry likes to hear that because they're going, 'We didn't know there was that kind of geology there,' so sometimes (the forum) will lead to claim-staking, because it's new exploration information coming out," Hoefer said. "That's our job, to fertilize conversations and deal-making, to help put out the welcome mat for the NWT."
This year is the 40th anniversary of the event, and the 10th anniversary of the NWT Geoscience Office, which is also an organizer of the conference.
About half of the registrants came from out of town, including many delegates from Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Ottawa.
Hot topics at the event included increasing interest in the oil shale plays in the central Mackenzie Valley, and a number of emerging junior mining exploration plans, with companies such as Saskatoon-based BFR Copper and Gold Inc., and Tyhee Gold Corp. which is developing its Yellowknife Gold Project.
Past chamber president Lou Covello was awarded honorary membership at the chamber's annual general meeting Wednesday, and three past recipients of the prestigious award, Grenville Thomas, Mike Vaydik, and Tony Keen, were present at the chamber's lunch.
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