This week’s episode features Mark Patterson, BC Mining Leader at PwC Canada, in conversation with host Adrian Pocobelli. Patterson discusses the major challenges and opportunities facing mining in Western Canada, including renewed interest in the Yukon and the growing importance of critical minerals. He also examines infrastructure, policy changes, regulatory hurdles, and the key stumbling blocks miners face when advancing projects in the region. All this and more with host Adrian Pocobelli. “Rattlesnake Railroad”, “Big Western Sky”, “Western Adventure” and “Battle on the Western Frontier” by Brett Van Donsel (⁠www.incompetech.com⁠). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License ⁠creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0⁠ Apple Podcasts:⁠ https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-northern-miner-podcast/id1099281201⁠ Spotify:⁠ https://open.spotify.com/show/78lyjMTRlRwZxQwz2fwQ4K⁠ YouTube:⁠ https://www.youtube.com/@NorthernMiner⁠ Soundcloud:⁠ https://soundcloud.com/northern-miner

PwC’s Mark Patterson on  BC, the Yukon and critical minerals

The Northern Miner Podcast

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** The Northern Miner Podcast

## Participants

- **Adrian Pocobelli** (The Northern Miner)
- **Mark Patterson** (PwC)

## Transcript

Big headline in the New York Times, the Ebola outbreak is being connected to gold mines in the northeastern DRC. Mining has been the lifeblood of this remote Congolese hill town for decades. Now it is fueling the spread of a devastating virus. Hello and welcome to The Northern Miner Podcast. My name is Adrian Pocobelli. So, not much to say on this. This is June 5th by Declan Walsh.

Other than pretty concerning images, first of all, of the Kansakansa gold mine in Mongboalu, again in the northeastern DRC, where basically people are shoveling dirt into makeshift processing equipment with zero helmets. You know, I guess they have rubber boots. Some of them. Some of them are bare feet.

So, Ebola is being connected, and they have a very interesting map here. Right on the border of Uganda, we see areas with Ebola cases and along the eastern border with Uganda. Now, interestingly, Goma, which is on the border of Rwanda to the south of Uganda,

you see a little bit of pink, in other words, where the outbreak is also present, and also in Bukavu. Now, these are more contested areas from my understanding here. So, war, resources, and plague concentrating in the eastern DRC. And as it says here, I'm just going to take a few bits and pieces. This is actually quite an extensive article.

But as it says here, the virus seemed to be seeping in everywhere, including the military. At the beleaguered town hospital, health workers had just diffused a crisis created by a distraught soldier. After the soldier's son died from Ebola, he blamed the medical staff for the boy's death. Quote, Fortunately, he was not armed, said Dr. Alex Bogole, a hospital medic. But he was carrying a knife and threatening people with it.

And scrolling down, like others in Mongboalu, many gold miners appeared to think that Ebola either does not exist or is a money-making scheme concocted by local doctors and foreign aid groups. I mean, post-COVID. The trust factor is, we might say, through the floor. With no treatment or approved vaccine available, many patients go to the hospital only to die soon after, deepening the distrust. Quote, crazy stories are going around, said Shadrach Toko, an official at Kanzakansa.

Quote, they say that people brought to the hospital are being injected with poison or even having their genitals cut off. So a concerning overlap here with natural resources and a plague and war. I mean, they tend to go hand in hand. Again, I'm thinking of Thucydides here at the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, where Pericles told everybody in the surrounding area to wall up in Athens. And then, of course, everybody being so close together, plague breaks out.

You know, it's kind of interesting, too, thinking about Thucydides. I was thinking about this the other day. Carney referenced Thucydides, of course, in the Mel...

PwC’s Mark Patterson on BC, the Yukon and critical minerals

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
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PwC’s Mark Patterson on BC, the Yukon and critical minerals

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.