Visit to Rock-Tech from David de Launay Deputy Minister of Ontario MNDM

Northern Ontario’s MSS Sector Takes Centre Stage at Northern Exports Forum

 

The first-ever Northern Ontario Exports Forum held last week on Wednesday, June 17, was a resounding success. The event, organized by the Mining Supply and Services Export Assistance Program (MSSEA), brought together 110 participants from almost 50 different mining supply and services (MSS) companies for the purpose of sharing experiences and gathering market intelligence related to exporting mining equipment and services from Ontario.

 

The forum featured nine breakout sessions, each one focused on a key export market for the MSS sector. MNDM staff from the Trade, Investment and Marketing (TIM) unit in the in the Transportation, Trade and Investment Branch and the Regional Economic Development Branch (REDB) played an important role in coordinating these sessions, and participated in the ones focused on Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, and Australia. The event also included presentations from key companies in the mining industry, including De Beers, Stantec, and Torex Gold, to name a few.

 

The forum was a very poignant illustration of how global Northern Ontario’s MSS sector is becoming, and the role MNDM is playing in that transition. In addition to the many international trade initiatives being led by the TIM unit, the ministry also supports, through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation, the MSSEA program. Deputy Minister David de Launay was on hand at the export forum to welcome the delegates and to honour the recent graduates of the MSSEA’s Strategic Export Marketing Program, which prepares small and medium sized Northern Ontario companies for making sales in foreign markets.

Photo Caption: Deputy Minister David de Launay with Ricky Lemieux, President of Rock-Tech and Marc Leroux, Manager of Trade, Investment and Marketing Unit. The Deputy toured Rock-Tech’s new facility (NOHFC supported) on June 17 as part of an Export Forum outing. In background is one of Rock-Tech’s products- a rock breaker.