FINEX is designed to bridge the interface between the financial sector and those driving mineral exploration through innovation, leadership, R&D, and training. The conference was organised on 27 and 28 October 2010, by the Applied Earth Science Division of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining in conjunction with the Mineral Deposits Studies Group of the Geological Society, the Irish Association for Economic Geology, the Association of Mining Analysts and the AIM team of the London Stock Exchange. Katie Bray reports on it for Women in Mining.
From commodity supercycles to projecting future finance trends, with a trip to Brazil and China on the way, the amount of material covered in the two-day FINEX’10 Conference was both impressive and well pitched.
Chris Watling, CEO of Longview Economics, identified the essential drivers of commodity supercycles: the unfolding and succession of industrialisation phases is the first one, others included weather cycles, monetary cycles, long capex cycles and of course long term demographic trends.
John Meyer, Managing Director of Fairfax and reputed metals & mining analyst, gave a highly entertaining presentation focusing on “How to make the market work for you?”. In a Darwin-inspired analysis of the City as a wild – and dangerous – jungle where survival is a constant battle, he concluded on the God-like status of mining analysts in this “natural hierarchy” before offering his “10 Commandments of the City”… which we leave to your consideration!
1. Honour your investors so they continue to support you
2. Don’t lie or exaggerate ‘beyond reason’
3. Try not to miss your targets
4. You shall not commit closeology
5. You shall not take the name of your broker in vain
6. Remember the weekend – it is time off for brokers
7. You shall not divert funds into non-core ideas
8. You shall not rubbish your competitors
9. You shall not steal your broker’s analysts
10. If you have a beard, shave it off!
Professor Lawrence Robb, Director of Savannah Gold, discussed future prospects; where, when and why, and provided a review of the basic geological processes relevant to the industry, bringing to light how necessary it is to understand these even for those involved only in the financial and economic aspects of the sector. The quality and location of new resources was explored throughout, including presentations from Dr Duncan Large on the future of Zinc and Cedric Chehab, Head of Commodities Research & Strategy for Business Monitor International, on the macroeconomics and future of China’s mining sector.
The second day came to a close by welcoming in students, with a focus on university facilities and the future of skills and human resources in the industry. Speakers from Cardiff University, NERC and Camborne School of Mines emphasised the importance of investing in the minds of the future, leaving no student in the room wanting to be left behind.
The presentations from FINEX’10 ( and soon audio-visual recordings) can be found on the Finex’10 website .
Katie Bray is a student in the third year of a Geology degree at Oxford University with an interest in exploration mining. Her fourth year will be spent doing a Masters in Oxford, hopefully based on gold deposits in Burkina Faso. Katie is currently working on a project on the origin and distribution of gold in the Archean and applying for summer internships in exploration mining. To contact Katie, please register / log on to the WIM Directory.