Prince George, B.C.  – The Premier’s Natural Resources Forum in Prince George,  is only a few weeks away and the interest in attending  is growing.

Host MLA Mike Morris  says enthusiasm is not being dampened by the  recent  downturn in the commodity markets resulting in mine closures in Tumbler Ridge and Fraser Lake and the slow  progress in LNG projects.

“The commodity markets,  particularly in rural B.C., we have been living with the upswing and downswings in commodity process our whole life  here, so   we’re planning for the future.  The prices aren’t always going to be down in the toilet, things will improve” says MLA Morris.  He is confident the new year will bring  good news on the  LNG front “We are still very optimistic, we are going to see some positive moves early in 2015 with the LNG sector and  once we see that,  we’re going to see pipelines and that’s going to  need steel and molybdenum is part of the steel manufacturing picture around the world.”

That  demand for molybdenum could be a boost to Thompson Metals, which has  recently announced the temporary shut down of  its Endako Molybdenum mine, a move that has placed  about  300 people on temporary lay off.

Morris says the  January 20^th to 22^nd  forum  provides an opportunity to  talk about  what lies ahead “We’re looking at some of the  major players in various sectors of the resource industry to talk about what  the future looks like for them , what they’re planning for, and  any changes that might be coming with respect  to technology,  with respect to how some of these resources will be used in the future.  It’s talking about the positive side of things.”

Morris  agrees mining is  under a great deal of pressure, not only from falling  commodity pricing, but public pressure as well in the wake of the Mount Polley  tailings pond breach “Mount Polley was a totally unexpected situation and the lessons that are going to be learned from Mount Polley will be put into play across the province and right around the world when they determine what caused that breach.”

But Morris says  the good news is, commodity  prices do come up  to levels  where it makes it attractive for investment “These companies that are investing  in  mining operations have a very long term vision  and thankfully  they do, otherwise we would  never get some of these projects off the ground. “

Registration for the event is well ahead of where it was at this time a year  ago, and  that bodes well for  showcasing Prince George says Morris “I think people are really  interested in  hearing what’s going on, not just local people, but people from across the country.  The resource sector is connected around the world and I’m pushing Prince George as the nucleus of the supply sector  for resource development, and showing  people what we have here.”