TORONTO (March 15, 2021) – Close to 200 leading governmental, business, and academic representatives of the Canadian and Eurasian mining industries joined the 2021 CERBA Eurasia Virtual Mining Conference on March 12, 2021 organized by the Canada Eurasia Russia Business Association (CERBA).

CERBA National Chairman, Gilles Breton, traced the history of the event back to the year of 1994 "when the first delegations from Russia took part in CERBA founding partner CRBF's Conference program during PDAC and the first bilateral Canada-Russia meeting happened in Moscow in 1996." Since 2000 the event has been held by the CERBA annually at PDAC.

The conference kicked off with a warm welcome from their Excellencies Alison LeClaire, Ambassador of Canada to the Russian Federation, Republic of Uzbekistan, and Republic of Armenia; Nicholas Brousseau, Ambassador of Canada to the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, and the Republic of Tajikistan; Akylbek Kamaldinov, Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Canada; and Javlon Vakhabov, Ambassador of the Republic of Uzbekistan to Canada and the United States of America.

The first session of the Mining Conference was led by Erin Campbell, CEO ECMB Partners and the CERBA Vancouver Board Chair. The focal point of the session was the updates from the Eurasian lawmakers in the mining industry: Maxim Kirzhimanov, Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment of the Russian Federation presented new regulatory initiatives of the Ministry for the improvement of the attractiveness of Russian mining projects for foreign and domestic investors; Almat Abdikeshov of the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, State Committee for Geology spoke about the recent updates to the international standards Subsoil Code, as well as the Astana International Financial Centre and Exchange being among the major instruments of foreign investment attraction to Kazakhstan; and Azam Kadirhodjaev from the State Committee of Geology and Mineral Resources of the Republic of Uzbekistan updated the audience on the new mining code developed in cooperation with EBRD, the World Bank and BCG, as well as the mining projects open for investment in Uzbekistan.

An expert on macroeconomics of the region, Chris Weafer of Macro-Advisory, mentioned that "all governments were under pressure to attract investment and to show credible recovery and growth strategies which offer opportunities for investors…" and noted the importance of the ESG aspect in the industry.

The event highlighted the success of the mining and metallurgy sector investors in Kazakhstan, Russia and Uzbekistan: Kinross Gold, Metalloinvest, Cameco and B2Gold – corporate stakeholders in the region – presented in the second session. The session was moderated by Kirill Kozenyashev of EY Parthenon, who set the stage by covering the major trends in the mining industry and the success factors for international players.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, the conference was held virtually, instead of in its usual locale of Toronto at PDAC’s venue. The Conference was immediately followed by an interactive networking reception hosted on Remo, a platform which allowed the attendees move around the reception "hall" freely and engage in video chats at "tables" with their peers from the mining industry, replicating the real - life experience.

For further information and the video recording of the official part of the events, please visit www.cerbamining.com.

About CERBA

Founded in 2004, the Canada Eurasia Russia Business Association (CERBA) is a non-profit business association seeking to support trade, investment, and friendly relations between Canada and the countries of Eurasia. Through its chapters situated in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Alberta, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Russia, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan, CERBA supports the dynamic needs of its growing membership in regards to advocacy activities, establishing fora of discussion, the dissemination of information and networking, and the establishment of partnerships for the benefit of the Canadian-Eurasian transnational business environment.