THE DISPATCH

Canada, you have the floor.

For now…

Listen, I'm not going to cover all the talks. There were dozens of other media reps in every room covering the content of those talks. I want to talk about those who were there to grow their business and reach. The exhibitors that put up the cash to get in front of the industry.

Because that's where the real signal is.

PDAC 2026 just wrapped, the 94th edition, and it shattered records. 32,155 participants from around the world packed the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, the highest participation in the event's history. Over 1,326 exhibitors spread across both the North and South buildings, which were completely full for the first time. And this wasn't just the usual suspects showing up. 59 countries were represented on the exhibitor floor, from Barbados to Uzbekistan, from Chad to Papua New Guinea.​​

Let that sit for a moment. The world showed up in Toronto this week. And if your company is in the mining supply chain and you weren't there, you need to understand what you're now competing against.

The Booth Numbers Don't Lie

Here's what the floor looked like by exhibitor type. 473 booths in Trade Show North. 403 on the Investors Exchange. 389 in the main Trade Show. Plus Core Shack, Prospectors Tent, and hybrid exhibitors bridging multiple zones.​

The composition tells you everything about where this industry's attention sits:

• 258 Junior Exploration Companies, the dreamers and the diggers, still the backbone of this convention

• 124 Exploration & Mining Companies with projects underway

• 93 Equipment Manufacturers, from drill rigs to exoskeletons (yes, Exoskeletons Canada had a booth)​

• 81 Consulting Services firms fighting for attention, leads and clients

• 71 Government bodies, provinces, territories, and sovereign nations all pitching their jurisdictions

• 48 Technology companies and another 33 Software/IT firms, more than ever before

• 21 Major Mining Companies, Barrick, BHP, Newmont, Rio Tinto, Teck, Vale, Agnico Eagle, Ivanhoe, the full roster​

The technology and software presence is what should catch your eye. GeologicAI, StratumAI, MinersAI, SYMX.AI, LithologIQ, Fleet Space Technologies, Exyn Technologies, the AI and autonomous mining crowd is no longer dabbling at PDAC. They're booking booths and pitching hard.​

59 Flags on the Floor

Canada obviously dominated with 931 exhibitors. But the international contingent was massive: 117 from the United States, 72 from Australia, 24 from Germany, 23 from China, 18 from the UK, 12 from France, 10 from Turkey, 8 from Finland.​

Germany brought a full federal pavilion, the German Pavilion: Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, with Herrenknecht AG, CyPlus GmbH, GEA Group, and about a dozen more companies nested under one national banner. That's a country-level commitment to getting in front of the Canadian mining industry.​

China sent 23 exhibitors, including Zijin Mining Group (a major), Lingbao Gold, and a long list of equipment and drill manufacturers from Qingdao, Shandong, and Hebei provinces. These are companies building the actual tools that go into the ground.​

Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Industry & Mineral Resources had a booth. Kazakhstan had three exhibitors including Aurora Minerals Group. The Mongolian National Mining Association set up shop. Countries like Guyana, Barbados, Greenland, and Namibia all had government or geological survey representation.​

When Chad's Ministry of Mines and Geology flies to Toronto for a booth at PDAC, the message is unmistakable: the global competition for mining investment and partnerships has never been fiercer.

The Commodity Map

Gold still reigns at PDAC, 326 exhibitors listed gold as a target commodity. But copper was right there at 222, reflecting the electrification supercycle narrative. Silver followed at 154.​

The critical minerals story was everywhere on the floor:

54 lithium and 54 rare earth element exhibitors. That number has exploded in recent years. Companies like E3 Lithium, Frontier Lithium, American Lithium Corp., Avalon Advanced Materials, and Ucore Rare Metals are all betting the farm on the critical minerals mandate. Uranium had 34 exhibitors anchored by Cameco and Denison Mines, plus a wave of juniors in the Athabasca Basin play like CanAlaska Uranium.​

This aligns directly with what happened at the government level at the convention, Minister Hodgson announced $3.6 billion in new programs including a $1.5 billion First and Last Mile Fund and a $2 billion Critical Minerals Sovereign Fund. Thirty new partnerships under the Critical Minerals Production Alliance will unlock $12.1 billion in project capital with 12 allied partners, bringing the Alliance total to $18.5 billion.

Who's Exploring Where

The countries-of-exploration data from the exhibitor list is a heat map of where capital wants to go. 242 exhibitors are exploring in Canada, followed by 124 in the United States, 38 in Mexico, 37 in Australia, 36 in Peru, 27 in Chile, 20 in Argentina, 19 in Brazil, and 17 in Colombia.​

But here's the part that should sharpen your attention: 17 foreign-domiciled companies listed Canada as an exploration target. Australian firms like FireFly Metals, Mammoth Minerals, Metals Australia, Olympio Metals, and Elevra Lithium are actively exploring on Canadian soil. So are Newmont, Rio Tinto, Hecla, and South32. The Australians alone sent 72 exhibitors to PDAC, more than Germany, China, and the UK combined.​

This is happening precisely because Canada and Australia just formalized a critical minerals alliance. Prime Minister Carney, in Australia this same week, announced that together the two countries hold 34% of global lithium, 32% of uranium, and 41% of iron ore, backed by a $25 billion combined war chest.

The Pavilion Arms Race

Sovereign nations are treating PDAC like a trade mission destination. The convention floor hosted national pavilions from:

• Argentina Mining Pavilion

• Brasil Pavilion

• German Pavilion (Federal Ministry level)

• Mexico Pavilion

• MineAfrica Pavilion (Chad, Guinea, DRC)

• Mining Finland

• Italian Trade Agency (multiple companies)

• Northern Ontario Mining Showcase (a pavilion within Canada, basically a province-within-a-province pitch)

• Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership

• Alberta Pavilion​

Provincial governments from British Columbia, Québec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories all had booths. So did the City of Greater Sudbury, City of Timmins, and the City of Yellowknife. Municipalities competing for mining investment at an international convention, that's a new level of urgency.​

Even the European Union had a booth. Business France was there. The US Department of Energy set up in Trade Show North.​

The Underdogs and the Wildcards

Some of the most interesting stories on the floor weren't the majors. They were the exhibitors that signal where this industry is heading:

Exoskeletons Canada, selling wearable exoskeleton technology for mine workers. This isn't science fiction anymore, it's a health services company with a booth at PDAC.​

Fleet Space Technologies (Australia), deploying satellite-enabled geophysical exploration. Garmin International and Infrastructure Networks were there for satellite communications, because remote mine sites still need connectivity.​

Four drone companies exhibited, Altohelix, Overhead Intelligence, Rosor Corp., and UVAD Technologies, alongside 17 remote sensing and mapping firms from six different countries.​

20 individual prospectors had booths in the Prospectors Tent, from Aubrey Budgell looking for gold, nickel, and uranium in Canada, to Carl E. Nelson covering exploration across a dozen Central and South American countries. The lone-wolf prospector still has a seat at the table, but they're now surrounded by AI companies and drone operators.​

Indigenous artisans, Inner Raven Beadwork, Wesley Havill Indigenous Art, Kagesheongai Crafts, Millside Ceramics, had booths at Level 300. Ten Indigenous business organizations and First Nations groups also exhibited, from the Canadian Council for Indigenous Business to Ontario First Nations Developers Association to the Manitoba Métis Federation. Indigenous partnership isn't a sidebar at PDAC anymore. It's integrated into the floor plan.​

The Workforce Signal

17 universities and colleges exhibited, from UBC Mining Engineering to Laurentian University to Luleå University of Technology (Sweden). ApprenticeSearch.com and the Canadian Union of Skilled Workers were there recruiting, geoespace.ca was showcasing a slick platform. So was DriverCheck Inc., offering health screening for mine site workers.​

The mining industry's talent crisis is being fought on the convention floor. When colleges book booths at PDAC, they're not there for the free coffee, they're competing for students who have options in tech, trades, and everything else.

The World Got Smaller This Week

Here's where we tie it together.

PDAC 2026 happened against the backdrop of the most turbulent trade environment in a generation. The US-Canada tariff war has dominated headlines, 25% tariffs, retaliatory measures, supply chain disruption. The US Supreme Court struck down certain IEEPA tariffs on Canada in February 2026, but the damage was done to assumptions about stable cross-border trade.​

At the same time, Mark Carney has been barnstorming the globe with his middle power thesis, that countries like Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and the EU must build coalitions because the old rules-based order is crumbling under great-power bullying. He delivered the message in Davos, in Sydney, and it echoed through every hallway at PDAC.

Mining project deal values hit $70 billion in 2025, the highest in six years. Provincial governments are racing to streamline permitting, BC's Infrastructure Projects Act, Ontario's economy-unleashing legislation, Québec's single-authorization bill. Canada's Building Canada Act has referred 13 major projects to the new Major Projects Office, five of them mining.​

And at PDAC itself, 30 new critical minerals partnerships were signed, Canada and Australia deepened their alliance, and the federal government put $3.6 billion on the table.

The geopolitical reality is this: Canada has what the world wants. Copper, lithium, uranium, nickel, rare earths, cobalt. And the world, all 59 countries on that exhibitor floor, knows it.

So What Does This Mean for You?

If you're a Canadian mining company, an equipment supplier, a consulting firm, a technology vendor, or a service provider anywhere in this value chain, the competition just got a lot more crowded. A company from Qingdao is selling drill bits to the same buyers you are. A Finnish drilling company is bidding on the same contracts. A German engineering firm backed by a federal pavilion is pitching the same decision-makers.

1,326 exhibitors paid real money to stand on that floor. They staffed booths, flew teams to Toronto, printed banners, and shook hands for four days straight. That's not casual interest. That's commitment. And if you weren't there, or if you were there but your message was indistinguishable from the 1,325 others, then you've got a visibility problem in an industry where visibility is now a global competition.

The world got a whole lot smaller this week. Canada is front and center of the medium power movement, and the mining industry is the engine behind it. Your company isn't just competing with the outfit down the highway anymore. You're competing with 59 countries and 32,155 people who just proved they're paying attention.

Get your story straight. Get it in front of the right people. And get louder, because the floor is only getting more crowded.

// THE DIRT

A Closing Thought

NOTES FROM THE NORTH

The boys are off to Fort Erie today for a quick afternoon game and I realized something as I was driving them to the rink this morning to get on the bus, these kids might be more consistent than most people I know.

They show up everyday, early morning practice, school, dry-land training, dinner, homework then sleep.

Monday to Friday. Lather, Rinse, Repeat. Then they get on the bus for a road trip to test their development and efforts against their competition. Practise is for development, games are for measurement.

If their head is in the right place, they’ll head into that game expecting to win and hating to lose. That’s the take away, if you’re putting in the reps you’re earning the right to have the mindset of expecting to win and hating to lose.

Walking around PDAC this week I saw thousands of people who have putting in the reps test their efforts and development against their competition.

Not only are they heading home from the conference with a stack full of leads they’re heading home with a measurement against their competition.

Well, at least those who decided to show up. Many forfeited and didn’t even get on the bus.

Do the work, get on the bus, measure yourself against your competition.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Btw, today is the very last day for the rad ad deal I have on right now. If you want to measure some effort and development for yourself, this is an easy in.
_{(5 spots left as of writing this)}

-Lee

Special thanks to the Italian contingent for great coffee, the DR of Congo for the hearty laughs and my friends from Kazakhstan for the chocolates.