It's never too early to plant the mining bug.
Running around the convention halls this year are groups of nine- and 10-year-old kids, part of a youth outreach program by the good folks behind PDAC.
Caitlin Beland, the group leader of a bunch of precocious fourth-graders from Louie Honoree Frechette PS in Thornhill, said the kids are very excited to be at the conference.
"These kids are really actually into it," she said while the kids were looking at an exhibit on diamond drills.
"The point of this trip is to ask industry professionals questions," she said.
This is the second year Ms. Beland has worked with children through PDAC, and said there are also older groups of ninth and eleventh graders floating around the halls.
As for the fourth-graders, each child has a booklet of questions they have to complete, which has been presented as a scavenger hunt, Ms. Beland said.
Ms. Beland, who is studying geology at the University of Toronto, has also been doing experiments and demonstrations with her young charges.
For instance, she's taught them the concept of relative thermal conductivity, which relates to how much heat objects such as wood, plastic or diamonds can transfer in a given period of time.
"We've also done chocolate chip cookie mining, just giving them an idea of how to run a business," she said.
Shelley Stein, a parent who was tagging along with daughter Jamie, said the trip fits well into the class curriculum.
"They just covered rocks and minerals in class," she said, waving to her daughter.
The mining industry has had to grapple with a growing cohort of geologists and specialists retiring in recent years, so perhaps this is a way to get kids hooked early. But Ms. Stein isn't worried there is any conspiracy going on.
"It's more of a general education kind of thing," she said with a chuckle.
Here's some examples of questions the kids have to answer. If you know the answers, write them down in the comments:
— What is an important advantage in using aluminum instead of steel in making drilling rigs?
— What types of careers in geology and mining are there in the Ontario government?
— What is the diameter of a standard VTEM system?
Eric Lam