Build a powerful network through Young Mining Professionals

POSTED ON May 25, 2015 BY Andrew Nelson
CATEGORY Mining, People, Young Mining Professionals,

Order of picture Left to Right: Greg Smith, Rohan Hazelton, Scott Jeffery, Happy Me (Photo Cred: CEO.ca)

The mining industry is all about the people, and as a young professional working in this industry, I'm trying to get to know and associate myself with the best and the brightest.

Recently I had the privilege to interview the founding partners of Young Mining Professionals, an association with the sole focus of bringing together Vancouver’s future mining leaders through exclusive networking and professional development events.

The group originated as a KPMG mining tradition of bringing colleagues together to enjoy a good steak dinner. These informal dinners evolved into YMP in 2007, which was created by Scott Jefferey (Mining Tax Partner, KPMG), Rohan Hazelton (VP Strategy, Goldcorp), and Greg Smith (CEO, Anthem United).

AN: How has YMP helped you advance your career?

SJ: As a professional in public practice this group has been exceptional to helping me establish strong connections from an early stage in my career. Many of the individuals I have met through YMP have become both friends and clients.

RH: Early on in YMP I had great exposure to CEO’s and mining executives through our events. This allowed me to build a rapport and foster early relationships which have been quite beneficial. I have drawn on those initial interactions in the years since in a business context and even in negotiations.

GS: Being a part of YMP has been tremendously rewarding as I have developed several business partners from the group. One notable business relationship resulted from meeting Dan O’Flaherty, a former investment banker with Scotia McLeod who is now the Executive Director of Anthem United.

Furthermore, during the first 6 years at MineFinders I levered those YMP relationships to do financing deals. As well, the network that was founded through YMP led to my opportunity to join Ezperanza Resources, and to eventually found Anthem United.

AN: How are YMP events different than your typical mining conference such as the PDAC or VRIC?

SJ: To provide exceptional value to our members we keep the group at a manageable size of less than 150 members. The events are typically 25 to 35 people unlike a large scale mining conference where a CEO may be presenting to a room of 700 people. It’s much more likely you’ll shake the hand of the CEO over a cocktail at a YMP event.

We have a one of a kind pro-am golf tournament every summer where the pros are mining executives who will be paired up with 3 young professionals. This event is always a sell out as it provides a very casual setting for a whole day while our young professionals can interact and learn more about the CEO in a relaxed environment.

There are lunch and learn sessions which are more technical but also highly valuable as our group strives to educate our members on the technical side of mining.

Our events are focused on mining industry professionals with additional inclusion of those working in mining related services such as auditors, lawyers, and investment bankers. Our mandate is for industry members to be able to come to our events and feel comfortable in the crowd to focus on building their network and forging new relationships.

RH: The smaller, intimate events are a great way for the mining executives to open up and share information that they probably wouldn’t speak about at a large type conference. You’ll commonly see executives share how they arrived at where they are today, or what they did along the way that made a huge difference, or they'll share more personal stories that may connect better with the younger audience.

AN: With the event’s being quite exclusive and limited in size, what kind of non-service providers should be attending?

GS: Historically, we’ve had many finance type individuals due to our network and the head offices of miners being situated in downtown Vancouver. We would like to see more geoscientists, geologists, and engineers in attendance, but typically the case is they are the ones out in the field.

SJ: Anyone who spends the majority of their time involved in the mining industry is welcome. There is always a strong turn out of bankers and lawyers, but to cover the full spectrum of the industry we'd like to see more operating and technical professionals who have field experience at the events.

AN: For all the young professionals who will be reading this article, why should they join YMP?

RH: From my point of view, this group has been so beneficial to young professionals because we continue to hold events, so there is a constant stream of new individuals attending. This past Christmas, at our luncheon at the Vancouver Club, 80% of the people had not met before, which I see as a huge positive as it says professionals are still entering this industry. YMP is an energized and stimulating group continuously gaining new members who will be the next generation of up and coming mining professionals.

GS: We are in a very challenging market environment in the mining space at the moment. There are less people coming into the industry today than when we started a decade ago. But, at the same time, those who establish relationships today and work through this bear market will most likely be very successful professionals when this market turns around.

My advice to any professional looking to enter this space is that although it will be a difficult short period ahead, there is no better time to enter the industry than now. You should be building your network today, and YMP has a history of bringing some of the most successful CEO’s and value creators in the gold and copper space to our events.

You cannot get this kind of opportunity or experience as a young professional at any other event in Vancouver. We’ve been working hard to build a new team who will be taking over YMP to keep the momentum going.

SJ: This is a relationship driven industry and Vancouver is a very small business community. If you want to be successful and have those relationships you need to start early on in your career. If you look at the more senior generation that is 30 years ahead of us, you'll see that they have known each other for a very long time and are still doing business together. We recognize that establishing relationships doesn’t happen overnight but takes a significant amount of time. Start early on in your career and it will almost certainly pay dividends in the future if you stay in this business.

AN: Thank you all for your time and advice for the future generation of mining leaders. It was a pleasure to be able to hear how YMP originated and the benefits of being a member.

Our next Distinguished Speaker Event will be at the Vancouver Club on the evening of June 23, 2015. The guest speaker will be Dr. Mark O’Dea, Founder of Oxygen Capital, Executive Chairman of True Gold Mining, Chairman of Pilot Gold, and Director of Pure Gold.

If you are a young mining professional, please join our LinkedIn Group to be eligible to register for this upcoming event:

Stay up to date and sign up through our website for the upcoming Pro-Am golf tournament this summer and other future events: http://youngminingprofessionals.com/

Andrew Nelson

Andrew Nelson is pursuing the CPA designation as an auditor at Davidson & Co., the leading service provider for junior mining clients globally. Mr. Nelson has experience working with TSX venture listed explorers in Kazakhstan, Paraguay, Peru, Namibia, Madagascar, West Africa, United States, and Canada reporting under IFRS framework. He is an Executive Officer with Young Mining Professionals a not-for-profit which holds networking events for young professionals in Vancouver's resource sector. His interests are reporting on Canadian precious metal explorers and holding informative interviews with accomplished mining professionals. If involved in junior mining he would love to hear from you at Andrew.GM.Nelson@Gmail.com. More →

Twitter: @https://twitter.com/ANelsonMining

andrew.gm.nelson@gmail.com

Andrew Nelson

Twitter: @https://twitter.com/ANelsonMining

andrew.gm.nelson@gmail.com

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