The third annual CIM Capital Projects Symposium (CPS) is taking place from Nov. 19 to 21, 2023, at Vancouver’s Westin Bayshore. The conference will focus on the elements of successful project execution, from project development and financing methods, to contracting models and execution methods. 

The conference is geared towards a wide variety of people connected with the industry, including mine owners and operators, mining finance organizations, mine capital project study groups, consulting engineering companies, mining schools, contractors, project managers, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) companies, and many more. 

Ian Pearce, CIM president elect and CPS conference chair, said that this year’s conference will follow a similar format to previous years, along with some new elements. The first day of the conference, Nov. 19, will be comprised of educational information pieces, while Nov. 20 and 21 will feature two major sessions each day led by a different heavy-hitter speaker. These three-hour sessions will cover a variety of topics including putting together project estimates for non-estimators, project development and project financing. The first session on Nov. 20, for example, will be headed up by Sam Houston, vice president of major projects at Rio Tinto, and will focus on how projects can change the future of mining, looking at technology, sustainability and people. 

“That leads into the second session, which is really around development and project financing,” Pearce explained. “Once you have a project, how do you think about getting capital to actually build that project? What are the different streams you can call upon? And how should you think about that?” 

The second session on project financing will be led by Kurt Breede, technical director of mining at Scotiabank. The third session will cover project execution, chaired by Karla Mills, senior vice president of projects at Teck Resources Limited, while the fourth session will cover contracting models, chaired by John Gravel, CEO and Founder of Bedrock-Service Group. 

On Nov. 21, key learnings from various case studies will be presented before a session on achieving win-win scenarios in contracting. 

“That’s going to be quite an interesting session, too,” Pearce said. “We’ve got a number of companies that are committed, so we have mining companies coming, we’ve got equipment suppliers coming, we’ve got quite a good range of people that are going to be supporting the symposium and presenting. [Attendees] should be able to meet mining people associated with capital projects, and the whole three days is going to be all about, ‘How do we do capital projects better in the mining space?’” 

The first symposium in 2020 was virtual due to the pandemic, while last year’s conference was also in-person in Toronto. Pearce noted that the in-person setting allows for more informal conversation and connection compared to virtual events, in addition to fostering networking opportunities for university students hoping to enter the industry, as well as companies hoping to meet the next generation of talent. 

Pearce said that in addition to the networking opportunities, the conference is worth attending for the learning opportunities not available elsewhere. He noted that the session chairs and panel members will provide guests with a macro view of the industry, and a broad spectrum of perspectives that they might not be exposed to on an everyday basis.  

Another benefit of the conference format, according to Pearce, is that the setting lends itself well to communication and collaboration for the future. He noted that with so much time for sharing new ideas and connecting over visions for the future, it gives industry members a chance to foster meaningful partnerships and collaboration opportunities as the industry works towards building a new sector. 

“Ultimately, the industry is looking for a shift change in how it does its business,” he said. “As we represent these projects, and take them into the future, they need to be forward looking. There’s going to be a lot of discussion in this conference, but I think we're going to move it towards a lot more [conversation] around how can we use those themes to drive innovation and technology development.” 

To register, visit capitalprojects2023.cim.org.