Tom Schroeter: B.C.‘s unofficial mining ambassador
Strength through joint ventures
1 of 2Tom Schroeter, president, CEO and director of Vancouver-based Fjordland Exploration Inc. — Photo courtesy of Fjordland Exploration Inc
2 of 2Tom Schroeter, president, CEO and director of Vancouver-based Fjordland Exploration Inc. — Photo courtesy of Fjordland Exploration Inc
Tom Schroeter, president, CEO and director of Vancouver-based Fjordland Exploration Inc., has been active in the exploration industry in British Columbia for more than 40 years. So he knows that the small exploration companies that abound in B.C. need to make tough decisions not only to prosper, but also just to stay in business.
“Our focus is on discovery, which is the very top of the risk chain in the mining industry, and that means we never have it easy,” Schroeter said. “That's especially true now, since the start of the downturn in exploration. These days investors and brokers don't have the tolerance for risk that is needed to invest in junior mining companies.”
To keep afloat financially, exploration companies need to make a choice.
“They can hunker down to the last penny in their treasuries, or they can seek strategic partnerships with large majors, which is what Fjordland has done,” Schroeter said.
Schroeter joined Fjordland in 2007 after a long career with the B.C. government as a geologist.
“The company focuses on B.C., on the porphyry copper-gold deposits in the road-accessible Quesnel Trough (in central and southern BC),” he said. “We like the long-term outlook for copper and gold.”
Fjordland has 18 properties in B.C. now, down from the 38 it had before the downturn in the market.
Strength through joint ventures
In addition to liking gold and copper, Fjordland likes joint ventures, of which it has formed a number since Schroeter joined Fjordland.
“A joint venture spreads the costs and the risks of a project, and the large mining companies are the ones that have the money,” Schroeter said.
When Schroeter joined Fjordland, the company had already formed a 60/40 joint venture with Cariboo Rose Resources Ltd. on the Woodjam property.
“We made two significant discoveries, the Southeast Zone and the Dearhorn Zone,” he said. “Both zones have identified significant copper and gold resources.”
In 2007, Fjordland formed the Questjoint venture with Serengeti Resources Inc. to explore 10 properties.
“The joint venture is still going on today, with eight properties,” Schroeter said.
Two years later, in 2009, Fjordland entered into an option agreement with Gold Fields Limited whereby the South African mining giant has the right to earn up to 70% of the Woodjam project.
“Between 2009 and 2013 Gold Fields spent more than $25 million and identified four zones with resources,” Schroeter said.
In 2013, Fjordland formed a joint venture with Sumac Mines Ltd., the Canadian arm of Sumitomo Metal Mining Company of Japan, in which Sumac can earn up to 51% of the Dillard project in southeastern B.C., just to the north of the recently reopened Copper Mountain Mine.
“The joint venture allowed Fjordland, which is the operator of the project, to carry out a significant exploration program in 2013,” Schroeter said. “Now we're for waiting word from Sumac about the details of the 2014 exploration program.”
B.C.'s unofficial mining ambassador
Schroeter, who is known in industry circles as B.C.'s unofficial mining ambassador, was bitten by the exploration and mining bug when he was growing up in Ottawa, Ontario, in the mid-20th century.
After earning a bachelor of science degree at Carleton University, he went on to obtain a master's degree in science, specializing in geology, at the University of Western Ontario.
Following university, Schroeter's first full-time job was in the minerals division of Amoco Canada in central and northern B.C. In 1973, he became district geologist with the B.C. Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources (as the ministry was then called) in Smithers, one of five provincial government geological districts in B.C.
“As technical spokesman for the northwest B.C. region, my job was to document and stimulate exploration and development in the district and to develop a good working relationship with miners, explorers, suppliers and contractors,” Schroeter said.
In 1986, he became senior regional geologist and manager of the Mineral Development Office in Vancouver, where his job was to stimulate and promote mining in B.C.
“Exploration and mining companies lobbied the government to open an office in Vancouver, because they knew it was important for them to be represented in one of the world centres of exploration,” Schroeter said. “It was the only office like it in Canada at the time.”
As head of the Mineral Development Office, Schroeter increased interaction between government and industry, acting as liaison between industry, federal and provincial governments, universities and the public at large.
Acting as the government spokesman for exploration and mining in BC across Canada and around the world, Schroeter's message was simple.
“I talked up the geological potential of B.C., the fact that it is politically and economically stable,” he said. “And I talked about the province's great online mining data base, which is a real credit to the B.C. and federal governments.”
Recipient of industry honors and awards
Tom Schroeter has received a number of industry awards during his career. In 2000, he received the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum Julian Boldy Memorial Award, for exceptional contributions to the Canadian Geological Society.
In the same year Schroeter received the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia Christopher J. Westerman Memorial Award, presented to a geoscientist who, through activity in professional affairs and participation in community activities, has exhibited the high levels of dedication and integrity that characterize the geoscience profession at its best.
In 2001, Schroeter received the B.C. and Yukon Chamber of Mines (now AME BC) Frank Woodside Past Presidents Distinguished Service Award for long and distinguished service to the minerals industry and for devoted service to the institution of the B.C. and Yukon Chamber of Mines.
And in 2007, he received the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada Special Achievement Award in recognition and in honour of exemplary contributions to the mineral industry in B.C. and Canada.
