Effective Date: February 9, 2023 

 

The Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information of its members, exhibitors, event attendees and all users of its services. This Privacy Policy has been prepared to affirm PDAC’s commitment to maintaining high standards of confidentiality and to set out, in general terms, PDAC’s practices concerning the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information. Please read this policy carefully. By using PDAC’s services PDAC deems you to have consented to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information for the purposes and in accordance with the practices set out below.

 

1. Defining Personal Information

Personal information is any information about an “identifiable individual” that can be used to distinguish, identify or contact a specific individual. Business contact information such as information on your business card and certain publicly available information, such as names, addresses and telephone numbers as published in telephone directories are not considered personal information. Likewise, aggregated and/or de-identified information which cannot be associated with an individual is not considered to be personal information. Information about corporations is also not considered personal information.

Where an individual provides his or her home address to PDAC as their business contact information, PDAC considers it to be business contact information, and is therefore not subject to protection as personal information.

 

2. Collection of Personal Information

PDAC limits the collection of personal information to what is reasonably required to fulfill the purposes for which it is collected. PDAC collects personal information in a variety of ways as further detailed in the “How PDAC Collects Personal Information” section below.

Personal information PDAC collects may include:

  • Identifiers and contact information, such as your name, email telephone number, and Internet Protocol (IP) address;
  • Demographic data, such as date of birth, age, gender;
  • Financial information, which may be collected in order to render services, process honoraria payments or for legally required forms related to such payments. We do not retain Credit Card information provided for online payments.
  • Browsing activity on our websites, such as pages viewed, opt-out preferences, email bounce backs, click-throughs, social media content, and IP addresses.

  • Any other information you provide to us. We collect no personal information about you unless you choose to provide that information to us. We do not use techniques that collect personal information about anyone without their knowledge. We only collect personal information about individuals when they specifically and knowingly provide it to us, for example when they apply for membership, register for a program or complete a registration form.

     

3. Means of Personal Information Collection

PDAC collects personal information in a variety of ways, including: directly from you, from other sources, through online technologies (such as when you interact with PDAC through the PDAC website) and from third-party social networks.

  • a. Directly From You

    PDAC may collect personal information directly from you by email, over the telephone, through the PDAC website contact form or in any other direct manner, for instance when you participate in a survey, interview, or other market research.

     

  • b. From Business Partners

    Occasionally, PDAC may receive personal information from PDAC’s business partners. PDAC may also receive your personal information from other sources with your consent or when authorized by law.

     

  • c. Through Online Technologies

    PDAC may collect certain types of information electronically when you interact with the PDAC website, emails, social media accounts, online advertising, or through the use of PDAC or a third party’s technologies, which include cookies or single pixel gifs or analytics engines. This information helps PDAC understand what actions you take on PDAC’s website and allows the PDAC website to work correctly.

    To learn more about the privacy choices available to you, please visit the “How Can You Change Your Privacy Choices?” section below.

    The technologies PDAC uses include:

    • Cookies, which are small text files that are saved on your computer when you visit a website so that information can be saved between visits, such as your login credentials or language preferences. For example, cookies allow you to log in quickly when you visit PDAC’s website.
    • Web beacons, and single pixel gifs, which are small image files that have information about you, such as your IP address, that can be downloaded when you visit a website or open an e-mail. This allows PDAC to understand your online behaviour, monitor PDAC email delivery, and provide you with interest-based advertising. These tools also allow PDAC third-party tracking tools to gather information, such as your IP address, and provide this back to us in an anonymized, aggregate form (i.e. in a manner that prevents us from identifying you personally). Aggregate information refers to personal information compiled and expressed in a summary form where no personal identifiers are included.
    • Web analytics tools such as Google Analytics, which uses cookies to analyze your use of the PDAC website, to create reports about visitor and user activities for PDAC and to provide further services associated with the use of PDAC’s website.
    • Analytics engines, which pull usage data from multiple sources and help manage and collect this data to gain insights into PDAC customer needs and preferences.

    • Tools that help protect against inappropriate uses, such as Google Invisible reCAPTCHA, which collects hardware and software information, such as device and application data and the results of integrity checks, as well as unique online identifications such as IP address, and sends that data to Google for analysis.

      You may delete or disable certain of these technologies at any time via your browser. However, if you do so, you may not be able to use some of the features on the PDAC website. To learn more about the privacy choices available to you, please visit the “How Can You Change Your Privacy Choices?” section below.

       

  • d. Third-Party Social Networks

    PDAC may collect your personal information if you interact with PDAC through PDAC social media pages and accounts (e.g. Twitter, LinkedIn). For instance, PDAC collects the personal information the respective social media platforms allow PDAC to collect from PDAC’s followers. PDAC may also collect any content you upload to PDAC social network pages (including photos or videos).

    In addition, third-party social networks that provide interactive plug-ins to enable social network features (e.g., to connect to LinkedIn) on the PDAC website may use cookies to gather information on your use of the website. How this collected data is used by a third party is dependent on the privacy policy of the social network which is available on the appropriate parties’ website. PDAC encourages you to review the privacy policies of third parties as well. Third parties involved may use these tracking methods such as but not limited to cookies to achieve their own business goals and purposes by relating and combining information about your usage of the PDAC website to any other personal information they may have collected on you. PDAC may also obtain and use analytical and statistical information from third-party social networks to help PDAC measure performance and effectiveness of content PDAC displays on social networks, for example, by measuring impressions and clicks on the content PDAC promotes.

     

4. How PDAC Uses Personal Information

PDAC may use all categories of personal information detailed in section 2 to provide you with PDAC’s services, to manage PDAC business operations, conduct market research and as otherwise permitted or required by law.

PDAC uses your personal information for the following purposes:

  • a. Providing PDAC Services

    PDAC uses your personal information in order to provide PDAC services, for example responding to your inquiries.

     

  • b. Managing PDAC’s Operations

    PDAC uses your personal information to manage PDAC’s operations, for instance:

    • Maintaining PDAC programs, products and services;
    • Managing and facilitating the use of PDAC’s website, which may include using cookies and other similar technology (as further detailed in the “How PDAC Collects Personal Information” section);
    • Protecting PDAC and third parties from errors and fraud; and

    • Meeting PDAC’s contractual, legal and regulatory obligations.

       

  • c. Marketing and Advertising

    PDAC uses your personal information to market PDAC programs, products, services, special offers, promotions, contests or events, and those of third parties who may sell their products using PDAC channels. PDAC may do this in a variety of ways:

    • By communicating with you by email and social media; and

    • By delivering online advertisements relevant for you.

      If you no longer wish to receive commercial electronic messages, please let PDAC know by following the unsubscribe directions provided in every commercial electronic message. For more information on managing your marketing preferences, see the “How Can You Change Your Privacy Choices?” section below.

       

  • d. Conducting Market Research and Data Analytics

    PDAC may use your personal information in order to conduct market research and data analytics by tracking and analyzing current or previously collected information for the following purposes:

    • To learn more about consumer interests, data trends, behaviors, and pain points;

    •  Measure the effectiveness of PDAC marketing; and

      PDAC uses the personal information PDAC collects to conduct research and analysis that supports PDAC’s operations. In doing so PDAC may generate reports that contain data about PDAC’s operations. When possible, PDAC will use your information in an aggregated and/or de-identified format. PDAC will only disclose such reports to third parties after removing any information that identifies individuals or for which it is reasonably foreseeable in the circumstances that it could be utilized, either alone or with other information, to identify individuals.

       

5. Disclosure of Personal Information

We may share your personal information with other organizations as described below.

In respect of personal information disclosed to third parties, PDAC takes appropriate steps, where permitted by law, to ensure that such third parties use the personal information only in connection with the purposes for which the information was collected and to safeguard the personal information against unauthorized use or disclosure. While personal information is being processed outside your country of residence by third party service providers on behalf of PDAC, the personal information may be accessed by the courts, law enforcement and national security authorities of the foreign country where it is being processed.

  • a. Service Providers

    In the course of providing our services we may share your personal information with third party service providers who perform services on our behalf. These service providers help us operate our business and improve the services we offer to you. They provide services to us, such as sending emails, data hosting, providing advertisements, market research. We require these service providers to limit their access to and/or use of personal information to what is required to provide their services and require that those third parties adhere to confidentiality as well as security procedures and protections.

    Examples of service providers with whom PDAC may share your personal information include:

    • Payment solution providers;
    • Vendors providing services for PDAC events and conferences, including hotels, event spaces, lead retrieval, and email marketing

    • Data processing, facilities management, and customer support operations;

       

  • b. Other Permitted Reasons

    In certain circumstances PDAC may share personal information without your consent and when authorized by law to do so, such as to comply with a warrant or other order from a court or a governing regulatory authority; to investigate the breach of an agreement or applicable law (for example, investigating potential theft); and when required in the context of a prospective or completed business transaction, such as a transfer of assets or shares or merger.

    In these circumstances, PDAC will not share more personal information than is reasonably required to fulfill that particular purpose.

    c. With your consent

    Other than for the purposes listed above, PDAC may also share or disclose your personal information with your implied or express consent. For example, PDAC may disclose your personal information to references you provide or to your designated agent.

    PDAC will generally obtain consent when PDAC wants to use personal information for a new purpose or for a purpose other than those stated at the time of collection in this Privacy Policy or in the terms and conditions of a specific service or PDAC offering in which you have participated. You may be entitled under applicable law to withdraw your consent (except in limited circumstances, including legal or regulatory requirements or as a result of your contractual obligations with PDAC). For information on how to manage your privacy preferences, please see the “How Can You Change Your Privacy Choices?” section below.

    If you choose not to provide PDAC with certain personal information or if you withdraw your consent, where such withdrawal is available, PDAC may not be able to offer you the programs, products, services, contests, promotions, events or information that you requested or that could be offered to you.

     

6. Security and Storage of Personal Information

PDAC endeavours to maintain appropriate safeguards and adequate physical, procedural and technical security with respect to our offices and information storage facilities so as to prevent any unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use, or modification of personal information. Safeguards include securing physical documents and technological measures by way of secure access and encryption. PDAC employees are authorized to access personal information based only on their need to deal with the information for the reason(s) for which it was obtained. Safeguards are in place to ensure that the information is not disclosed or shared more widely than is necessary to achieve the purpose for which it was gathered. We also take measures to ensure the integrity of this information is maintained and to prevent its being lost or destroyed.

To ensure the integrity and privacy of the personal and credit card information you pass to us via the Internet when you make an online transaction, PDAC uses a certified data center and the services of a third party application which performs all credit-card processing and is validated annually by the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Council to meet the Payment Application Data Security Standard (PA-DSS).

The information security control environment for the hosting facility undergoes an independent evaluation in the form of SOC 1 (SSAE 18 / ISAE 3402), SOC 2 and SOC 3 audits. The SOC 1 (SSAE 18 / ISAE 3402), SOC 2 and SOC 3 reports for the hosting facility are available upon request. We will store your personal information in accordance with our retention policies or as otherwise required or permitted by law, after which your personal information will be securely destroyed or anonymized (so the information no longer identifies you).

PDAC will store your personal information in accordance with PDAC’s retention policies or as otherwise required or permitted by law, after which your personal information will be securely destroyed or anonymized (so the information no longer identifies you).

 

7. How Can You Change Your Privacy Choices

PDAC wants you to clearly understand your choices and make informed decisions about your privacy options. There are several options available for you to manage your privacy preferences.

Learn more about how to change your privacy choices when you register or by contacting PDAC directly, and using third party unsubscribe functionality

  • a. When Register or by Contacting Us Directly

    You may opt in to receiving email marketing communications at the time that you register for PDAC’s services.

    You may opt out of:

    • Receiving email marketing communications, by clicking “unsubscribe” within any marketing email you receive, following the opt-out instructions provided;
    • Receiving interest-based advertisements by changing your browser settings on your device, and/or using third party unsubscribe functionality (e.g., via Google or LinkedIn) to change your preferences within their platforms. Please note that disabling, blocking or deleting some of these technologies, such as cookies, may cause you to lose the functionality of certain features on our websites.

    Please note the following regarding withdrawal of consent or changes in your privacy preferences:

    • Even if you have opted out of receiving marketing communications from PDAC, we may still contact you for transactional purposes, in compliance with applicable laws (e.g., for customer service or reminder notices). PDAC may also need to contact you with questions or information regarding your customer service inquiries.

       

  • b. Using Third Party Unsubscribe Functionality

    PDAC may use third parties (e.g., social media platforms) that use certain technologies to analyze your browsing behaviour as you visit PDAC’s website. You can manage your privacy preferences with respect to certain third parties, such as Google, by using the unsubscribe functionality within their platforms. Please note that disabling, blocking or deleting some of these technologies, such as cookies, may cause you to lose the functionality of certain features on the PDAC website.

    For example, Google Analytics uses cookies to analyze your browsing behaviour on PDAC’s website. This information is not provided to PDAC in a personally identifiable format and is collected through your ad settings on your device or browser. If you would like to opt out of Google’s ad settings, please go to www.google.com/settings/ads or use the Google opt out browser add-on located at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

    PDAC may also embed links to other websites, including social media websites, on PDAC’s website. For more information about social media plug-in protocols, such as “Like” buttons on Twitter, LinkedIn and their impact on your privacy rights, please visit the appropriate social media help center (e.g., LinkedIn Help Center at https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin).

     

8. Accessing and Correcting Your Personal Information

You may have the right to access and rectify the personal information PDAC holds about you under the law applicable in the jurisdiction where you reside. In this case, upon request, PDAC will provide you with access to your personal information within a reasonable timeframe, in compliance with applicable laws. It is your responsibility to provide accurate, correct and complete information.

You can request access or rectification by contacting the applicable Privacy Office as described in the “Where to Learn More” section.

 

9. Updates to Policy

PDAC may make changes to this policy from time to time. Any changes PDAC makes will become effective when posted on the PDAC website. If the changes made are significant, PDAC will provide a more prominent notice as required by applicable laws.

 

10. Where to Learn More

To learn more about the collection, use, disclosure and protection of your personal information, to request access to or correction of your personal information, or to make a complaint, please contact Maria Milanova at [email protected].