Local Company at PDAC is ‘Buy-Canadian’

By Richard Coffin

Wipware’s Senior Tech Specialist is losing his voice from the amount of people stopping by their booth at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention in Toronto.

The North Bay mining supply and service company is once again a part of the Northern Ontario Mining Showcase pavilion at the convention.  

Andrew Palangio says there’s a real interest around the world with how Canada will deal with the challenges around U.S. tariffs. 

“So far the name of the game at this show has been buy Canadian,” he says, adding that typically at trade shows people may simply drop off a business card or talk about synergies. 

But this time is different.  

“This show has been non-stop deep conversations, hands being shaken on the floor and business deals being made and a lot of excitement,” Palangio says. “It’s not just where we are in the Northern Ontario section it’s also in the Canada North Pavilion, which is right next door to us.” 

FedNor says the Northern Ontario showcase is the largest pavilion at the convention and includes 112 businesses.  

Palangio says being one of them brings added value.   

“We’re here together so there’s strength in numbers, we support each other and direct customers to each other’s booths to try and keep things up in the north,” he says. “Nothing beats that collaboration.”  

With dozens of mining supply and service companies, Palangio says he hopes local residents understand how key the city is to the industry.  

“It’s very obvious when you come to a show like PDAC, every other company is from North Bay,” he says. “Just a reminder to my fellow North Bayites that we are important on the world stage and to take a moment to appreciate that.”  

FedNor says this year’s edition of PDAC is projected to attract more than 27,000 attendees from 135 countries.

Wipware makes technology for the mining industry that measures the size, shape, volume, colour of rocks, and more for each stage of the process. 

They’ll also be heading to the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy & Petroleum (CIM) annual convention in Montreal in May.