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"A SPIRIT OF CO-OPERATION AND THE KEYNOTE ADDRESS"
Wednesday, March 7

I went to this year’s PDAC Convention hoping to cover the proceeding from the angle of...

“A focus of the re-emergence of precious metals as a monetary asset for diversification purposes – so far as central banks and treasuries national are concerned.

Last year at this time – there were virtually ZERO Central Banks in the world that would admit to “buying” – gold in particular – the stuff.”

Being a ‘gold bug’, my thinking was that – amid the many calls by treasuries national around the world for foreign exchange reserve diversification –there might be discernable noise, or perhaps ‘smoke’ is a better word, emanating from the mining industry regarding protectionism and increasing government regulation concerning mine output.

This was the story I hoped to report. But I’ve found that I cannot accurately report that story at all – at least, not yet.

What I did find, at least in some respects, was a story quite the opposite from the confrontational undercurrent I originally anticipated I might find.

On Wednesday morning I attended the Canadian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Int’l Trade [DFAIT] Information Café. This was a networking event that was attended by delegations and interested parties from 17 countries including Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Eastern Europe [Russia].

Also present were no less than 45 Canadian Government Trade Commissioners, intimately providing attendees with industry-specific support and guidance.  No signs of conflict here.

I spoke briefly with Ms. Odette Corbu, Trade Commissioner – Ontario Region – who was chairing the event.  She explained that the primary reason for this event was to provide a premier networking venue and to promote the profile of Canadian Mining capabilities and expertise to and for all interested parties.

At this event’s conclusion, I met up with my friend - Mr. Anthony Harding, Deputy Director in the Mineral Economics Directorate of South Africa's Department of Minerals and Energy. We had lunch together where we freely exchanged thoughts.

While being pragmatic and analytical toward my ‘conspiratorial’ views as a gold bug, he could do nothing but shake his head in disbelief when I conveyed to him the size of J.P. Morgan Chase’s derivatives book – a stunning 63 TRILLION and recently growing at more than 5 TRILLION per quarter as of Q3/2006.

Mr. Harding and I adjourned from ‘our lunch’ to catch the end of the CIM [Canadian Institute of Mining] – Price Waterhouse sponsored – PDAC ‘wind up luncheon’ and listened to the keynote address of Dr. Patrick Moore.

Patrick Moore, Ph.D
Chairman & Chief Strategist
Greenspirit Strategies, Ltd.

As the founder of Green Peace – way back in the 1970s – Dr. Moore has, in a sense, seen it all and in the truest sense of the word – has come full circle.

His speech chronicled his own life story; from that of an up-and-coming Ph.D. to that of activist and then on to ‘radical activist’. As Dr. Moore explained,

‘The Green Peace movement was born in a church basement in the 1970s. It took 10 years [until the 1980s] before the Green Peace ‘cause’ made it on to the agenda of the main steam consciousness.  He went on to explain that it was another 10 years before anyone had an actionable plan to deal with the issues that Green Peace brought to the forefront. Finally, says Moore, in only the past 10 years – he’s enjoyed finally seeing the implementation of policy dealing with these concerns.”

Dr. Moore went on to explain how he felt compelled to abandon the namesake he had founded ‘about 20 years ago’ because it had become “too radicalized” by clever folks with agendas that were not to his liking – or in his mind – the original spirit or intent.

In Moore’s words, “he moved on” from being a radical environmentalist to that of advocating pragmatic sustainability – where he now consults and advocates sustainable mining endeavors through Greenspirt Strategies Ltd.

I had the opportunity to speak briefly with Dr. Moore at the conclusion of his speech.  I told him how remarkable I felt his transition was from radicalized environmentalist to the “Dark Side” – working and consulting with some of the world’s leading mining concerns. He reiterated to me that he was always fond of ‘sound scientific research’ – his roots. He concluded by telling me that,

“one day he realized 6 billion people wake up each morning and they have to be fed and they require energy and materials to sustain their lives”.

Dr. Moore finally came to the conclusion that his time was better spent helping to forge sustainable solutions and besides, he claimed,

“I’ve always been open to adapt to newer and better information.”

So at the end of the day, I didn’t get the exact story I was looking for. In fact I got one quite different – but a good one all the same. Who knows, perhaps I’m capable of adapting and changing and maybe, just maybe……having a good word to say about the Federal Reserve, J.P. Morgan Chase or Goldman Sachs one day?

Nahhh.