They say everything is bigger in Texas, but after last week, I’m convinced that saying applies just as much to Toronto.
I had the opportunity to attend the PDAC Convention 2026, marking the first time either I, or the team at St Brides Partners have attended the event.
For those unfamiliar, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada Convention (PDAC) is widely regarded as the world’s premier mining convention. Stepping onto the conference floor for the first time, the scale of it was immediately striking. Thousands of attendees from every corner of the globe had gathered in one place. Not just capital markets professionals, but geologists, academics, drilling contractors, recruitment firms, government representatives and, of course, mining companies themselves.
It was a powerful reminder that the mining sector is far broader than a flashy corporate presentations and earnings releases that many of us working in financial communications tend to see day to day. Behind every exploration update or project announcement sits a vast network of technical expertise, operational capability and long-term planning.
Spending several days in conversation with mining companies and industry participants reinforced just how global the sector has become, and how important strong capital markets engagement is as projects move from exploration through to development.
One theme came up repeatedly in conversations throughout the week: the growing urgency around securing critical minerals supply chains. Governments, investors and industry participants alike are increasingly focused on how the West can ensure reliable access to the metals and minerals that underpin modern economies, from electrification and renewable energy infrastructure to advanced manufacturing and defence.
Put plainly, this is no longer just about economic growth. It’s also about national security. In an era of heightened geopolitical tension, access to critical minerals is increasingly being framed as a matter of defence and strategic resilience. As countries look to reduce dependence on concentrated supply chains, the role of new mining projects, and the capital required to fund them, is only becoming more important.
Flying back to London, one thing felt clear: the mining industry is entering a period where geology, geopolitics and capital markets are becoming more closely intertwined than ever before.
For those of us working at the intersection of companies and investors, that makes the conversations happening around events like PDAC not just interesting, but increasingly important.
