Mining4Life is an annual charity event where representatives from the mining industry compete in a Texas Hold-Em poker tournament. The revenues from the tournament are then donated to charitable beneficiaries such as the Sick Kids Foundation, which helps finance healthcare and education programs for children around the world.
The poker tournament occurs once a year over the past four years, and brings together representatives from 60 to 80 companies associated with the mining industry, including miners, banks, lawyers, engineers, and accountants. The event is hosted in Toronto and accumulated over $2.7 million in this year’s event, which increased Mining4Life’s total fundraising to $11.26 million since 2009.
The Mining4Life organizers decided to hold the poker tournament at the conclusion of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s annual convention, which is held every year in Toronto. The convention is attended by thousands upon thousands of people associated with the mining industry, who are more than capable of playing in a fun poker tournament for charity. As a result, Mining4Life was established to follow the convention because of the convenience of having the majority of the industry together in one setting.
Aaron Regent, former CEO of gold producer Barrick Gold and one of the co-chairs of Mining4Life, says the poker tournament is an optimum way for the mining industry to raise money for a good cause. Regent says what makes Mining4Life unique compared to other fundraisers is that 90 percent of the winnings made through the poker tournament are donated to Sick Kids and other charities, whereas most organizations donate less than 50 percent.
“I think there’s a universal appeal about Sick Kids and children’s health generally and then specifically the work Sick Kids is doing in countries where the mining industry have a lot of mining operations.”
Many mining companies, Canadian based and otherwise, maintain operations all over the world, and Regent says it’s important for business to give back to their communities of operation.
