In the 1950's there was a lot of effort to find a second world class Zn/Cu deposit in West Central Newfoundland to complement the very high grade 50-60 year mine life Lucky Strike mine in Buchans. There were numerous showings of similar and just very good grade throughout the general area (~10-30 miles by 60-80 miles). However, drilling could only define ore bodies that could support up to 4-7 years of high grade production. With prevailing metal prices, in the 1960's -70's no one deposit was judged to be sufficient to justify the risk of development (given deposit potential size and grade along with environmental standards and tax structure, etc.). Renewed exploration with a new mining act and tax/Royalty structure in place, into the 1990's renewed exploration efforts eventually lead to the development of the Duck Pond mine (high grade ~10 year mine life with potential for longer if metal prices... remain favourable) by Aur Resources (AUR - T). At present there are 10-15 other deposits being actively explored that still have insuffient resource definition and currently remain uneconomic - due to either insuffient deposit size and/or relatively low (but still good by most standards) ore grade. Duck Pond has been described as very profitable but short life.

Old Joe