It’s a less traditional way to drill for gold than above-ground machines, but this barge drill on Leprechaun Pond past Buchans is necessary because the water body doesn’t have a solid bottom, just 30 feet of mud. The work is paying off, judging by the gold results from the site reported by Mountain Lake Resources and operator Marathon-PGM. — Photo by Sue Hickey/The Advertiser
By Sue Hickey
Transcontinental Media—Grand Falls-Windsor
According to the province’s natural resources minister, mining has become such a vital player in the provincial economy that it deserved its own strategy.
Voisey’s Bay nickel and iron ore mines in Labrador, the hunt for rare earth elements and uranium, Teck’s copper and zinc mine outside Millertown in the central region, gold mining on the Baie Verte Peninsula, other mines in the works and no shortage of intensive exploration throughout the province — all point to why the province introduced its first minerals strategy.
“This will help increase our province’s ability to compete, both locally and globally, while helping us to identify our mineral potential and the opportunities that lie before us,” said Natural Resources Minister Shawn Skinner, calling mining a “critically important part” of the economy.
Over the past five years, the industry has contributed an average gross domestic product of almost nine per cent, and employs approximately 5,000 people, a substantial number of them in rural communities.
While there’s no shortage of mining activity throughout the province, judging by the junior exploration companies staking claims and examining historic mine sites with an interest in reactivating them, the central region is a real hotbed for geologists, prospectors and surveyors.
And central has more than 150 years in the mining business to rely on. Buchans, once home to a world-class copper mine, may see history resurrected. The Buchans Minerals Corporation says new technology and techniques may make it possible to mine lower-grade copper ores. Closer to the Baie Verte Peninsula, companies are even doing work at tiny Tilt Cove, once home to more than 1,000 people and a thriving copper mine.
“Mining is very big in central,” said Gerry O’Connell, executive director of the Newfoundland and Labrador Chamber of Mineral Resources.
“You’ve got Rambler Mines in Baie Verte and lots of exploration in that area. There’s all sorts of mining-related activity in Springdale, and that is becoming a major service centre for companies. There’s the Beaver Brook antimony mine in Glenwood, Golden Promise (gold) near Badger, and Valentine Lake out past Buchans. Marathon is aimed to put that gold site into production.”
Early results from several exploratory drilling programs demonstrate the real potential for future growth and development in the central region, said Skinner.
Marathon Gold PGM is hoping to bring a full-fledged gold mine to fruition in the next few years. They’ve got a lot to play with — the Leprechaun deposit has an inferred resource of 285,000 ounces. Exploration is continuing with the hope of expanding the resource.
“The results demonstrate clearly that there is open pit potential at the Leprechaun deposit,” said Philip Warford, president and CEO of Marathon.
“We are now poised to rapidly develop resources with what will be the largest drilling campaign to date on the property.”
Not a week goes by without press releases from Mountain Lake Resources and Marathon Gold (the two are joint venture partners, though Marathon is the operator at the Valentine Lake camp) announcing significant gold showings from their drilling activities.
For example, of the seven holes drilled, all of them reported gold intercepts within 100 metres of surface.
Other mining companies are expanding or exploring the province, too. There’s the southwest coast, where juniors like Mountain Lake are reporting strong showings of antimony, a mineral high in demand, in addition to gold and base metals. Juniors are also looking at uranium on the Burin Peninsula.
The Advertiser
Horizons 2011 