North Bay Machining Centre is one of 110 northern exhibitors at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention in Toronto.
“This is probably the busiest PDAC I’ve been to,” says Luc Champagne, President. “I’m in the North pavilion with the Northern Ontario Mining Showcase and it’s busy and it’s buzzing.”
He says they offer machining services, making products for some of the largest Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) Exploration companies in North America.
“I’ve got about 12 customers in exploration, and they’re all here,” says Champagne. “It’s a really convenient location to meet all of my customers and talk about business in the past and what the future holds and how we can leverage our synergies together to help them help their customers.”
He says there’s also potential business with new companies looking to design their ideas or products.
“They come to us to see if we can make their products, their prototype products,” says Champagne. “That’s always a positive thing. Some years there’s none of that because the market is down but this year it seems very positive.”
He says another positive indicator of a strong market is that junior mining companies are getting financing.
North Bay Machine Centre on Birchs Road, which employs about two dozen people, is one of about 60 mining services companies that call the city home.
“We don’t have a headframe in sight, but North Bay is very supportive of the mining industry,” says Champagne. “The hub of mining exploration is in North Bay.”
A dozen local companies are part of the FedNor-funded Northern Ontario Mining Showcase at PDAC this year.
