Laura Stradiotto
Local News - Wednesday, November 15, 2006 Updated @ 9:50:06 AM
A delegation from Datong City in Shanxi Province, considered to be the largest
mining centre in China, met with local mining and service companies Tuesday.
The delegation was interested in learning more about advanced mining
technologies, especially mine safety and environment-related products and
services while looking for businesses interested in investing and developing
business in Datong City.
"Datong City is the mining capital in China and (Sudbury) is the mining capital
in Canada, so both sides should meet," said Zhefu Fan, with Qian Business Corp.
in Toronto.
Representatives from Sudbury's mining and service sector say they are in the
initial stages of building business relationships with China.
While Sudbury's mining and service sector is privately owned, China's mining
industry is government controlled. So local industry officials still have some
questions about how business can be conducted, said Dick DeStefano, executive
director of Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association.
But "we think there's probably some opportunities," he said.
"We're being very cautious about it and it's coal mining, so we're not sure
specifically what they need. But the door's been opened, we shook their hands,
established a relationship with them and we hope it's going to work."
Other objectives were to explore opportunities for manufacturing in China and to
examine whether there was a need for skilled Chinese workers in the Canadian
mining industry.
The delegation spent some time learning more about College Boreal's online
education programs in occupational health and safety and English as a second
language.
It will probably be at least a year before any formal business is conducted,
said Kirk Petroski, senior consultant with G1 Global, the company responsible
for organizing the Chinese visit.
"It doesn't happen overnight," said Petroski.
"There are communication issues, language issues, cultural issues and all of
that has to be worked out in the process of a year or so to get that product
introduction to the Chinese market."
Last year, G1 Global lead a private trade commission to China and this year have
introduced the Chinese delegation to the mining resources available in the
Sudbury area.
"Our goal is to have Sudbury companies have their products and services
introduced to Datong City's mining environment," said Petroski.
The delegation also met with Bestech representatives to review their energy
system and air quality control monitoring, and with Mining Innovation,
Rehabilitation and Applied Research Corp. to explore mine modelling.
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