BY TREVOR STEWART
Sudbury?s impact on Canadian and global mining is on display again this week, as the Copper Cliff Curling Club welcomes industry players to the Canadian Mining and Industrial Expo 2005.
The exposition has been around for more than a decade now, and has grown each year. This time, more than 100 exhibitors will pack the curling club on Wednesday May 4 and Thursday May 5, for what organizer Darren Ceccerelli of DAC Marketing expects to be Northern Ontario?s busiest expo to date.
He expects as many as 2,000 industry members to attend, including purchasing agents, sales personnel, mine foremen, engineers, consultants, plant maintenance representatives and anything else in between.
?This is probably the largest show of its kind in Canada,? Ceccerelli says. ?We have a sold out show this year. There are exhibitors from all over and there?s a lot of international demand coming on stream because the industry is so hot right now.?
Although the show caters to mining and industrial companies from across North America, with a target audience of Northern Ontario, and northern parts of Quebec and Manitoba, it has garnered an impressive amount of attention from groups all over the globe during the past few years.
Groups from China, Chile, England, South Africa, as well as Nigeria and western Africa have all expressed interest in attending Sudbury?s biggest industrial trade show.
?What they are looking for is expertise, and the show is full of expertise,? Ceccerelli says. ?Not only from around here, but from all over North America. There will be companies from Illinois, Texas, Michigan, and New York. Even representatives from Labrador City will be here talking about Voisey?s Bay.?
John Ratushniak is enthusiastic about the mining and industrial expo as both a Sudburian and Northern Ontario account manager for CPL Systems, the Canadian cog of the Dutch-owned Groeneveld Group.
CPL Systems produces high-tech efficiency and safety solutions. For the past three years, Ratushniak has targeted Sudbury?s largest trade show as one of the most important for his company to attend.
?There?s so much potential in this area that just needs to be developed,? Ratushniak says. ?Sudbury is one of the world?s mining capitals and this is the kind of trade show that gives us a little notoriety. There is an international flavour and people are starting to come from outside this area to exhibit and attend our shows.?
?The quantity of the exhibitors is great,? Ratushniak adds. ?Even during down periods when there aren?t a large number of attendees, there is an opportunity to network with fellow exhibitors.?
Ratushniak points out organizers do a terrific job in turning this event into more than just a trade show for sales personnel to push their products and services. The seminars that have been organized around the expo are an added bonus.
This year, Ceccerelli has lined up two more seminars. A contingent from Nigeria will make a presentation about mining in Western Africa. And a firm from British Columbia will talk about mobile GIS exploration.
?The seminars add value you don?t get at every trade show,? Ratushniak says. ?They can attract engineers or research and development people because someone in high standing is talking about cutting edge technology. It draws the type of people to the show that I?m very interested in talking to.?
This year?s trade show will run from noon until 8 p.m. Wednesday and 10 to four on Thursday at the Copper Cliff Curling Club. It isn?t open to the general public, but admission is free for any industry members, who will be entered to win an assortment of prizes when they register at the door.
