Yesterday, the PDAC in Toronto was wrapped up for another year. RSC’s Senior Consultant Geologist, Ron Worl, has been attending the event which was keenly attended by explorers and providers of geological services alike. As a key player in the Geology and Exploration Services arena it was important that we show our face. Ok, it’s a long way from home base but there’s a huge amount of activity happening in Canada and it has an impact on the industry worldwide.

Arlene Drake, an exploration analyst with Natural Resources Canada spoke at the PDAC about Canada’s exploration spend. Drake was reported to say that in 2012 gold accounted for 46% of Canada’s exploration spend and base metals just 19%. Canada, the country with the biggest exploration budget, is expected to spend around $3 billion (CAD) in 2013 which is a fall of about 14% from 2012 levels. That’s not great news for many geological consulting companies. RSC’s view is that this will bring about some rational thinking in the industry where contract geologists and consultants refocus on the basic principles that generate the most value for exploration clients: understand the geology, understand data limitations and pay attention to quality control.