Sault Ste. Marie will never be confused or compared with the robust mining camps such as Sudbury, Timmins and Kirkland Lake – at least not yet.
But that won't stop hundreds of prospectors and geologists from heading to the Steel City for the annual Northeastern Ontario Mines and Minerals Symposium, April 13-14.
Hosted by the Ontario Prospectors Association (OPA) at the Delta Waterfront Hotel, the event is a combination of technical talks and trade show for junior mining companies, suppliers and the Ontario Geological Survey (OGS).
It's one of two shows staged by the OPA, including a northwest symposium scheduled for Thunder Bay's Valhalla Inn, April 7-8.
Despite the cyclical nature of the mineral commodities market, even in buoyant times, the Sault and the surrounding Algoma district has always been on the back burner when it comes to mineral exploration in the North.
If there is one area with the best potential, it is the Batchewana Greenstone Belt, about 50 kilometres north of the city, which extends inland from the eastern shore of Lake Superior.
One the things that can make this area pretty attractive is the access to some of these rock exposures.
Anthony Pace,
OGS district geologist
Like many places within the Ontario Geological Survey's Sault Ste. Marie district, the small belt has been chronically under-explored for years with only grassroots activity and a little bit of drilling.
Greenstone belts are magnets for prospectors. They represent ancient volcanic eruptions which yield a significant amount of metals such as copper and
zinc.
The OGS district geologist Anthony Pace said the Batchewana belt has been described as the southern-most extension of the larger Abitibi Greenstone Belt, one of the world's most productive geological bodies.
The rocks are of Proterozoic age – between one to two billion years old – which can contain copper, molybdenum and gold.
There are a handful of junior miners and prospectors working ground in the area.
The belt was host to two past-producing mines, the Coppercorp Mine (1964-72) and the Tribag Mine (1967-73), each producing more than a million tons of copper. Most of that tonnage came out of one of four known breccia pipes.
The unmined East Breccia (thought to be a mixture of copper and molybdenum) is being explored by Amador Gold Resources with a program of soil sampling and ground geophysics.
Further inland, a group of seasoned, local prospectors, known as RRS Syndicate, have a large package of 2,000 claim units around Mamainse Lake where they are starting a first phase of drilling.
After the 2008 world economic crash which sent mineral commodity prices tumbling "we're starting to see an upswing again in exploration," said Pace.
The western end of the Batchewana belt, and its 3,000 claim units, are almost completely staked from the shore of Superior, east to Griffin Lake.
Black Panther Mining Corp. has a large chunk of ground in Olsen Township and is spending $250,000 this year for line-cutting, geophysics and drilling.
There's been significant staking by prospectors in nearby Runnells Township for possible gold finds.
Though the terrain is rough bush, it been opened up in the last 20 years by a network of logging roads.
"One the things that can make this area pretty attractive is the access to some of these rock exposures," said Pace.
The Batchewana belt is where the Sault OGS office focuses their annual project proposals to the province in asking for a full-blown geoscience initiative of airborne surveys, GIS data compilation and detailing mapping.
Similar exercises have been done in Timmins-Kirkland Lake, Lake Nipigon and Atikokan, which has revived exploration there.
A science committee of OGS and Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry staff and prospectors, decide if it's worthing mapping and funding.
More exploration activity and more drill rigs would help generate a bigger business case, said Pace.
"We need to see more people in there staking claims."
About the only mineral commodity that has dipped in demand and price is uranium. It's placing many exploration projects in the legendary Elliot Lake mining camp on hold.
Pele Mountain Resources has drilled close to 200 holes in advance of their Eco-Ridge mine project.
International Montoro Resources hold property east of Pele at their Serpent River project and are looking for primarily uranium and rare earth element oxides
Rare earth elements are now in vogue due to the development of hybrid vehicles, and elements such as lithium and rubidium which are used for car batteries.
Appia Energy Corp. is also on the hunt for uranium north of Elliot Lake, while Carina Energy Corp. has a significant claim package in the same area looking for uranium and IOCG (iron oxide copper gold).
Compared to high grade deposits such as Saskatchewan's Athabasca Basin, the Elliot Lake deposits are relatively low grade with big tons.
"It all comes down to price and demand," said Pace.
With the spot price of uranium weakening to $40 a pound in March, Pace said activity could pick up if the spot price strengthens to $70.
The only producing mine in the Sault district is an open pit aggregate quarry operated by Ontario Trap Rock, east of the Sault in the town of Bruce Mines, the site of Ontario's first copper mine in the mid-1800s.
Although the Sault area contains some very historic mines, there's a scant track record of new mines being put into production, said Garry Clark, executive director of the OPA.
The abundance of private land makes it averse to exploration. Some properties have been held for so long by companies and individuals that very little is publicly known as to what's really there.
In the aftermath of the March Prospectors & Developers Association international trade show in Toronto, many industry analysts were forecasting that the bull market is back.
Clark said companies with significant mineral intersects have no problem going to market to finance their properties. It's tougher sledding for junior with only "conceptual" exploration plans.
Juniors such as Premier Gold ($32 million), Rainy River Resources ($55 million) and Brett Resources ($26 million) have all been successful raising exploration dollars this year.
"Ten years ago, tell me you would even think these companies were going to have that much money in northwestern Ontario in exploration dollars," said Clark. "It's amazing."
Because of solid producers like Goldcorp, with world class deposits at Red Lake and Musselwhite, the region is drawing more attention than ever before.
The emergence of the McFauld's Lake chromite and base metal deposits in the James Bay lowlands mean communities like Thunder Bay and Greenstone are jockeying to land the ore processing facilities for the “Ring of Fire.”
Clark said the best economic opportunity lies in filling the ongoing supply and service needs of the exploration companies.
Thunder Bay is a base for more than 20 junior miners. Exploration companies in Ontario alone spend more than $600 million annually, more than double of what operating mines invest, said Clark.
"It's the exploration companies you're looking to attract. The more exploration you have, the more money in your (local) economy."
