MineAfrica

What MineAfrica does

MineAfrica Inc. is a Toronto-based, Ontario-incorporated business development and marketing firm founded in 2002 that operates as a deal-flow platform connecting African mining projects with international capital. The company runs its own multi-brand umbrella, "On the Ground Group," which contains three lines: MineAfrica (African-focused events and forums), MASTERMINING (educational courses), and mineLatinAmerica (South and Central American mining seminars). Its flagship offering is the Annual Investing in African Mining Seminar, paired with the Africa Mining Breakfast, held each March during PDAC in Toronto — PDAC being the world's largest mining investment conference — with the 27th edition slated for PDAC 2026.

MineAfrica's product set spans four pillars. First, recurring large-format events during PDAC and country-specific bilateral summits such as the Canada-Nigeria Business & Investment Summit and the 6th Ethiopia-Canada Business Forum, which serve as convening venues for mining companies, government delegations, and investors. Second, the MASTERMINING certificate course, offered in both a 5-module virtual format and a 3-day in-person format, with custom leadership-development variants delivered in partnership with Schulich Executive Education Centre at York University; the program has accumulated 500+ participants globally. Third, the mineLatinAmerica brand, which extends the convening model into South and Central American mining jurisdictions. Fourth, bespoke marketing and consulting services for mining sector clients.

The business model is professional services and event sponsorship-driven: revenue is generated through event sponsorship and exhibitor fees, course registration, and marketing/consulting engagements. Customers span mining corporates, government and embassy partners (e.g., the Ethiopian Embassy in Ottawa and Ethiopia-based WAFA Marketing and Promotion), the Canada-Africa Chamber of Business (its flagship strategic partner), financial institutions and investors, and individual executive-education learners. The firm is privately held, employs 11–50 staff, and is led by co-founder Wayne Floreani (President), with Bruce Shapiro (Past President) as co-founder.

Name

MineAfrica

Legal name

MineAfrica Inc.

Website

https://mineafrica.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

MineAfrica is a Toronto-based business development firm founded in 2002 that organizes events, executive-education courses, and bilateral summits connecting African mining projects with international investors, governments, and service providers through its PDAC flagship and country-specific forums.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Toronto

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Event Sponsorship and Exhibitor Fees: MineAfrica generates revenue through event sponsorship packages and trade show exhibitor fees for companies, governments, and organizations seeking to promote themselves at the largest African mining event in North America during PDAC.
2. MASTERMINING Course Registration: Revenue generated from professional mining industry education courses offered both in-person (three days) and online (five modules), with registration including materials, meals, and certificates.
3. Marketing and Consulting Services: Provides marketing and consulting services to public and private sector clients seeking to reach senior-level Africa-focused mining audience.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

MineAfrica organizes and markets flagship events, including the Annual Investing in African Mining Seminar and Africa Mining Breakfast held during PDAC in Toronto each March, to connect African mining projects with international investors. The company also delivers the MASTERMINING 'Understanding the Mining Industry From A to Z' certificate course in both in-person and online formats, runs bilateral country-specific business summits such as Canada-Nigeria and Ethiopia-Canada, and provides marketing and consulting services to public and private sector clients seeking to reach a senior-level, Africa-focused mining audience.

Product overview

MineAfrica Inc. is a business development and marketing company providing a platform for mining companies, advisors, service providers, and governments to promote themselves to a senior-level, Africa-focused audience since 2002. The company's portfolio consists of: (1) the Annual Investing in African Mining Seminar held during PDAC in Toronto as its flagship event, (2) MASTERMINING — an accredited certificate course covering mining and financing offered in virtual or in-person formats, (3) mineLatinAmerica — investment seminars for South and Central America, all under the On the Ground Group umbrella. The company also organizes bilateral business forums (Canada-Nigeria, Ethiopia-Canada) and provides marketing and consulting services to clients. MineAfrica is not a software product company; it offers event-based services, educational courses, and business matchmaking.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Annual Investing in African Mining Seminar Flagship annual event held in conjunction with The Canada-Africa Chamber of Business African Mining Breakfast during PDAC each March in Toronto, providing a platform for mining companies, advisors, service providers and governments to promote themselves to a senior-level Africa-focused audience of financial institutions, analysts, mining executives and media.
• MASTERMINING — Understanding the Mining Industry From A to Z Accredited certificate course 'Understanding the Mining Industry From A to Z' offered in a 5-module virtual format or in-person over three days, covering all aspects of mining and financing. Registration includes materials, meals and certificates; can be customized for organizational needs and delivered in-house.
• Canada-Nigeria Business & Investment Summit Business summit held October 9-10, 2024 in Toronto focusing on trade and investment opportunities in Africa's largest economy (Nigeria), featuring senior Nigerian government officials and business leaders.
• Ethiopia-Canada Business Forum Annual business forum organized in partnership with WAFA Marketing and Promotion, The Canada-Africa Chamber of Business, and The Ethiopian Embassy in Ottawa; 6th edition scheduled for November 2024.
• Marketing and Consulting Services Marketing and consulting services provided to public and private sector clients seeking to promote themselves to a senior-level, Africa-focused audience of financial institutions, analysts, mining executives and media.
• mineLatinAmerica Investment Seminars Mining investment seminars focused on South and Central America, organized under the On the Ground Group international division as a regional extension of MineAfrica's Africa-focused platform.

Quantifiable outcome

• 500+ professionals trained through MASTERMINING courses globally
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• WAFA Marketing and PromotioncoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 September 2023Partnership for organizing the 6th Ethiopia-Canada Business & Investment Forum. WAFA serves as a local partner for Ethiopian business delegations and market expertise.
• The Canada-Africa Chamber of BusinessflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerPremier organization 'Accelerating trade, business and investment between Canada and Africa through world-class networking and information sharing opportunities.' MineAfrica is a strategic partner, jointly organizing the Annual Africa Mining Breakfast during PDAC and Africa Accelerating conferences.
• The Ethiopian Embassy in OttawacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOfficial embassy involvement in Ethiopia-Canada Business Forums, providing government endorsement and facilitating participation of Ethiopian officials and business leaders.
• Schulich Executive Education Centre (SEEC), Schulich School of Business at York UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInnovative partnership announced to deliver co-branded educational and training programs for the international natural resources sector, including Custom Leadership Development and Business Continuity programs.
• On the Ground GroupflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerOn the Ground Group is the international division of MineAfrica Inc. and umbrella organization for three brands: MineAfrica, MASTERMINING, and mineLatinAmerica.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Mining Indaba: Mining Indaba is the largest African mining investment conference, held annually in Cape Town. It is the closest direct competitor to MineAfrica, targeting the same audience of mining companies, governments, and investors seeking African mining capital, though MineAfrica focuses on the North American (PDAC) gateway while Mining Indaba focuses on the in-Africa gateway.
• The Northern Miner: The Northern Miner is a Canadian mining news publication that runs mining investment events and educational programming. It targets a similar North American audience of mining executives and investors and overlaps with MineAfrica's PDAC-adjacent positioning.
• Investing News Network: Investing News Network produces mining investment content, hosts events, and runs educational programming aimed at retail and institutional investors evaluating mining opportunities. It competes with MineAfrica on the investor-education and event-sponsorship dimension.
• Mining Journal: Mining Journal, part of Aspermont, is a long-established global mining media brand that also organizes mining investment conferences (including Resourcing Tomorrow). It competes with MineAfrica on event-based sponsorship and audience access, and overlaps on the educational and business-development segments.
• Mines and Money: Mines and Money is a global mining investment event series run by Aspermont, with flagship conferences in London and other financial centers. It directly competes with MineAfrica in connecting mining companies with institutional investors, and overlaps on junior and mid-cap mining promotion.

Broad incumbents

• Reuters Events: Reuters Events is the conference arm of Reuters and operates large-scale mining and commodities events globally. It is a broader incumbent with deeper marketing reach and bigger sponsor budgets than MineAfrica, representing a competitive threat in the mining-investment event category.
• S&P Global Commodity Insights: S&P Global Commodity Insights (formerly S&P Global Platts) is a major commodities intelligence provider that runs mining and metals conferences and publishes mining-sector research. It competes with MineAfrica for mining company marketing and investor-attention budgets, with far greater scale.

Regional players

• AME (Association for Mineral Exploration): AME is the British Columbia-based association for mineral exploration that organizes the annual AME Roundup conference in Vancouver. It is a regional peer to MineAfrica in the mining-event and exploration-promotion category, with comparable mining-investor audience access but a different geographic focus.
• Mining Weekly: Mining Weekly is a South African mining industry publication that covers African mining investment and runs associated events. It is a regional peer competing with MineAfrica in African mining promotion, with stronger on-the-ground Africa presence but a weaker North American investor gateway.

Others

• CSA Global: CSA Global is a mining consultancy that advises explorers and producers and participates in mining investment events as a thought leader. It is an adjacent ecosystem participant rather than a direct competitor, but its presence at the same conferences overlaps with MineAfrica's audience.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/mineafrica
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/mineafrica-inc-

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about MineAfrica