Mineral Exploration Roundup wrapped up January 27 after hosting over 5,400 people from 33 countries. Presented by the Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia, this year’s event featured the theme of Innovation in Exploration, focusing on stakeholder engagement as well as creative approaches to the industry in a challenging market.

Some news highlights included B.C. Premier Christy Clark’s pledge to extend the mining exploration tax credit and flow-through share program, and to allow mines to defer electricity bills while waiting for commodity markets to recover.

The Yukon government, meanwhile, signed what it called a milestone agreement with the Kaska First Nations, creating a framework for negotiations about development in the territory’s southeast.

Geoscience B.C. released its latest airborne electromagnetic survey to help the industry as well as land use planners and local communities benefit from the data.

Five post-secondary schools signed a memorandum of understanding with the B.C. Centre of Training Excellence in Mining.

“Despite the challenging market, the collaborative ideas, new connections and innovative solutions coming out of this year’s Roundup conference will help shape the future of the industry as it continues to work through the current downturn, ” said AME BC president/CEO Gavin Dirom.

Next year’s event takes place January 23 to 26, 2017. The following photo feature captures some aspects of Roundup’s most recent conference.