Mines and Money Online

In any given ‘normal’ year, the international mining community would expect to coalesce on a regular basis at the multitude of conferences and roadshows put on by events teams such as Mines and Money. However, 2020 has been far from normal. The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the mining events calendar, with postponements and cancellations a necessary outcome as the world comes to terms with restrictions on travel and large-scale gatherings. For the past 18 years, Mines and Money has run a busy schedule of successful events around the world that have brought miners and the investment community together, but this year the organisers have been pressed to recalibrate their platform along digital lines to provide the same service. The two-part Online Connect series kicked off in the last week of June and aimed to provide a virtual environment for information sharing and deal making in these turbulent times.

Asia-Pacific

Mines and Money’s maiden digital conference event of the lockdown period took place from June 23-25 and brought together investors from Hong Kong, Singapore, Mainland China, Australia, Japan and Korea.

The Asia-Pacific (APAC) show welcomed over 1,500 attendees not just from the aforementioned countries but from more than 60 different nations. Those delegates heard from 126 speakers, including project updates from 40 mining and energy companies, who between them requested more than 2,099 meetings across the week.

The show was opened by Queensland Government Minister for Natural Resources, Mines and Energy Anthony Lynham, who encouraged investors to continue being active in Queensland and across Australia.

ANTHONY LYNHAM, QLD MINISTER FOR NATURAL RESOURCES, OPENS DAY ONE OF ONLINE CONNECT APAC

“Queensland’s resources sector has fared better than many others as economies worldwide struggle,” he said. “Oil and coal prices have taken a massive hit during this pandemic. Despite this, Queensland continues to attract resources investment.”

The Queensland Government and Trade and Investment Queensland was the show’s principal partner, and helped close the conference on day three with a speech from newly minted Minister for Regional Development and Manufacturing Glenn Butcher.

Butcher reminded the audience that Queensland remains a safe, trusted and friendly supplier of key products for the world’s economy.

“Poised, ready and waiting our manufacturing sector is eager to capitalise on our rich resource base to deliver the products of the future. Together we can harness our strengths to build a stronger state economy,” he said.

Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas

After a hugely successful APAC event, Mines and Money delivered another three-day digital conference the following week, this time

RONALD-PETER STOEFERLE REVIEWS THE IN GOLD WE TRUST REPORT, EMEA DAY ONE

FIVE-STAR DISCUSSION ON THE GOLD BULL MARKET, EMEA DAY TWO

KITCO EDITOR NEILS CHRISTENSON INTERVIEWS FRANK HOLMES ON EMEA DAY TWO

focusing on investors from Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas (EMEA).

Day one of EMEA started with a timely review of the recently published In Gold We Trust Report by its author Ronald-Peter Stoeferle. Among several reasons for the rising gold price over the last 18 months, Stoeferle highlighted an erosion of trust in central banks and escalating fiscal stimuli to support creaking economies. “Gold stabilises your portfolio and insures your losses on the equity side,” he said. “Gold is now outperforming the stock market. We can also see strength versus the bond market and mining stocks are now outperforming gold.”

The arrival of a strong gold bull market was a constant point of discussion throughout the three-day show, along with the impact of COVID-19 on the mining sector this year. In a fireside afternoon chat hosted by Kitco editor Neils Christenson on day two, legendary investor Frank Holmes discussed the impact of COVID-19 on the mining investment landscape.

He observed an ‘avalanche of new millennial investors’ during the pandemic and more speculative investors buying gold stocks. However, the biggest positive for gold stock investors has been the operative word ‘free cash flow’, according to Holmes.

“After COVID-19, the S&P 500’s free cash flow went negative, but not gold – it went positive. Now you are seeing more interest in gold stocks,” he said.

“Barrick and Newmont have been very loud in saying they have free cash flow available this year [hence the ability to pay dividends to generalist investors] and I think we’ll go into a nice run for the next three to five years where gold stocks will outshine the S&P 500.” Since lockdowns came into effect around the world back in April, Mines and Money has hosted weekly video networking sessions called 5@5. The basic premise of 5@5 is to keep up the conversation in the resources sector by bringing together five renowned industry figures in front of a live audience.

The sessions have proved to be incredibly popular over the last four months, so the Mines and Money team decided to run a 5@5 at the end of each

day during the EMEA show. It was therefore no surprise to see attendees from the show migrate over to 5@5 in great numbers to round off the day’s proceedings.

The final instalment of the trilogy of 5@5 sessions was delivered in partnership with resources investment expert team Dundee Goodman Merchant Partners, and featured no less than five mining companies and two renowned resources stocks investors.

MINES AND MONEY 5@5

“We have been delighted with how engaged miners and investors have been, both listening to presentations and using the meetings platform. I am delighted to see so many of our customers embracing the online way of doing business” | Andrew Thake, Mines and Money head of content

Dundee’s Robert Nixon set the tone for the discussion by stating that the firm hasn’t seen a more bullish time for precious metals investment than now. “To say we are bullish is an understatement. Our aim is to marry our expertise with exciting junior companies.”

A standout presentation was delivered by New Place Dome CEO Max Sali, who struck an enthusiastic tone when discussing the current market for precious metals

MINES AND MONEY 5@5 SESSION, DAY THREE EMEA

“Over the course of the three days we have seen 1,100 meetings take place between miners and investors, with an average of 18 investor meetings per mining company” Mike Hill, mines and Money head of mining sales

firms and waxed lyrical about his company’s prospects in the premier gold district of Nevada. “At Kinsley Mountain, we intend to wake up the sleeping giant, and not in a nice way,” Sali quipped.

Moving with the times

Having reported live from Mines and Money’s Online Connect APAC and EMEA shows, RGN witnessed a smooth transition to virtual conferencing which has allowed the mining community to continue collaborating and connecting with investors during these unprecedented times.

“Over the course of the three days we have seen 1,100 meetings take place between miners and investors, with an average of 18 investor meetings per mining company,” said Mines and Money’s head of mining

MINES AND MONEY ONLINE CONNECT - BRINGING THE MINING SECTOR TOGETHER DURING COVID-19

sales Mike Hill following the conclusion of the EMEA show.

While the organisers will no doubt miss the feeling of bringing the mining community together under one roof at its conferences around the world, by moving the events online investors are no longer constrained by geographic bounds, enabling miners to actually benefit from a larger investor base. “We have been delighted with how engaged miners and investors have been, both listening to presentations and using the meetings platform,” said Mines and Money head of content Andrew Thake. “I am delighted to see so many of our customers embracing the online way of doing business.”

Over the two-week period, the APAC and EMEA shows attracted 79 mining companies, 900 active investors and more than 1,800 attendees. As a result of this palpable success, Mines and Money is now taking the Online Connect global, with rolling time zones for its online meeting platformat the start of September. Stay close to RGN for further information on this exciting development.

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