AME BC Members Directory & Buyers Guide - The Association for ...

(2008 to 2012) to guide its activities,
services and partnerships. As part of the
plan, AME BC staff develop and implement
an annual operating plan to focus
the association’s priorities. Components
of the strategy include taking part in
government processes related to: access
to land, streamlining of regulations, land
and resource management planning,
regional land-use permits and roads.
AME BC is also committed to identifying
and addressing barriers to grassroots
exploration; investigating opportunities
to further support the assaying,
mapping, reporting and marketing
needs of prospectors; and continuing to
encourage geoscience.
The Chamber of Mines of Eastern
British Columbia, with headquarters
in Nelson, is a non-profit organization
that not only advocates for the mining
industry, but also has an information
and resource library with an extensive
collection of geological information,
maps and rock and mineral specimens.
The chamber’s office is open to the public
five days a week.
President Jack Denny says the
CMEBC was formed in 1925 and has
between 100 and 200 members, depending
on the time of year. The chamber
hosts elementary and high school classes
and offers courses, such as prospecting.
Denny says its graduates have had great
success “and are responsible for bringing
millions of dollars worth of investments
to the Kootenay-Boundary region.”
Recently the CMEBC has been sharing
the hosting of the Minerals South
conference with the East Kootenay
Chamber of Mines. The next conference
is slated for November 2010.
The Cranbrook-based East Kootenay
Chamber of Mines was formed in the early
1990s. The advocacy group represents
200 members on legislative and regulatory
issues. President Ross Stanfield says
the EKCM takes a special interest in provincial
government land policy and plans,
including the recent Flathead Valley decision,
land access and proposed changes
to Mineral Titles Online. In addition,
the chamber and its members stay on
top of environmental issues, endangered
species and public geoscience.
“We’re in close touch with AME BC
and MABC and, through them, the network
of regional conferences in the rest of
the province,” Stanfield says.
President and director Mike Cathro
says Kamloops Exploration Group was
founded around 1972. With approximately
That’s not a rock, this is a rock: Leo Lindinger,
a longtime advocate of mineral exploration
in B.C., holds a high-grade sample at Copper
Mountain.
1,000 members, KEG’s claim to fame is
an annual technical conference that
has been taking place since 1987.
“It’s one of B.C.’s highest
quality and most inexpensive
mining conferences, with a focus
on mineral exploration and
geology,” Cathro says.
The two-day conference
highlights
exploration successes
and issues and attracts
500 attendees and
70 exhibitors. For the
last eight years,
the conference has
focused on B.C.
projects and geology.
The theme of
the 2010 conference,
which took place in
April, was “explore
locally, impress
globally.” KEG
also sponsors
three scholarships
and a twicea-month
lecture
series in the winter
that is open to the general public.
Prince George Exploration Group is
a new regional association, formed in
spring 2009 and led by Ken MacDonald.
According to PEG director Tracy
Savident, the group is modelled on
the KEG. PEG’s mandate is to promote
prospecting, mineral exploration and
mining to the general public, to provide
an industry discussion forum and to
hold prospecting classes and promote
other educational projects in connection
with mining and prospecting.
PEG has approximately 30 members
and is growing, Savident says. The membership
includes individuals, juniors
and a few mining operators.
“Most people don’t think of Prince
George as a mining centre, but there’s
a history of mining and exploration in
the area,” Savident says. “For example,
the Endako Mine is nearby and the Mt.
Milligan Mine is moving closer to
construction.”
Smithers Exploration Group has
been in operation since 1971 and represents
about 250 members in northwestern
B.C. The group is very active.
President Rob
Boyce says the group sponsors field trips
and short courses, organizes technical
and general-interest talks and hosts
conferences and social events.
SEG is a partner in the Northwest
Community College School of Exploration
and Mining, which trains students
for work in exploration and mining in the
region. The school is funded through
grants from the provincial and federal
governments and donations from the
minerals industry.
SEG has put together the Northern
Cordilleran Rock Collection, a large
collection of rock suites representing
regional geological units, mineral deposits
and alteration assemblages.
Vancouver Island Exploration Group
was founded by Jacques Houle and is
located in Nanaimo. Houle says VIX, as
it is known, is an ad hoc group of approximately
250 members that was established
in 2002.
“Our mandate is professional development
only,” he says. “No political
advocacy.”
In addition to providing a forum for
Photograph: Bruce Madu SUMMER 2010 29