Rush is on in local area

Posted By Robert Calhoun

Posted 3 days ago

The discovery of silver in the early 1900s in Northern Ontario drew eager prospectors to the North.

The area grew quickly during this time, and the adventurous prospectors moved further north in search of the next fortune in the ground.

They converged on Timmins, and shortly after, gold was discovered.

Although we think that the Internet gives us an advantage because of the speed of information transmission, even in the early 1900s, news of the gold travelled fast and the rush was on.

Well, the rush is back on in the Northeast with new companies acquiring ground every day and established companies developing new ore deposits.

Here is a highlight of some of these new developments and news on operating mines.

In late 2004, Xstrata brought its Montcalm nickel, copper mine on line at a capacity of 750,000 tons per year, making Timmins a significant nickel producer and allowing Xstrata to utilize a dormant circuit at its smelting complex.

Pacific Northwest Capital has formed a joint venture with Xstrata to explore a major landholding around the Montcalm mine in search of additional reserves.

Liberty Mines has increased nickel production by re-evaluating and restarting mining at the Redstone Mine in Eldorado Township southeast of the city.

It commissioned its new mill in July and held a grand opening in September.

Exploration on other properties owned by the company has shown positive results, advancing towards production.

In the same area, Golden Chalice Resources has located a significant nickel discovery.

Although it is early, the company has high hopes of advancing the property to a major deposit.

In the far north, De Beers Canada is poised to start production from Ontario's first diamond mine in the first quarter of 2008.

There are other diamond pipes in the same area, owned by De Beers, which are being evaluated for their economic potential.

Several other companies have acquired claims in the far north in search of additional diamond deposits.

In the Porcupine camp, there are several companies advancing gold properties toward production.

A relatively new company to the area, Lake Shore Gold has explored the Holmer property near Highway 144 west of the city.

It has announced an advanced exploration program and has broken the collar on a new shaft.

The Porcupine Gold Mines continues to explore and expand its gold reserves in the area.

It is in full production on the Pamour pit with the ore being processed at the Dome facility.

It has revamped the Dome Mine underground activity to long-hole, bulk-mining, producing ore in wider zones and they continue to produce ore from the Hoyle Pond mine.

The PGM continues to evaluate the former Hollinger mine.

It has opened an information centre in Schumacher to keep the public informed of progress on this project.

The PGM leads the way in property restoration as it continues to invest in environmental clean up and returning mining properties to other uses.

The rush is definitely on for gold, nickel, copper, zinc and now diamonds.

Robert Calhoun is the project manager of Discover Abitibi.