The never-ending search for new mineral deposits has spread into the Fort Frances-Rainy River district.
A slew of exploration juniors have been working ground and taking samples of gold, copper, nickel, and even finding a few diamonds.
Ontario District Geologist Craig Ravnaas, who tracks exploration work in the Kenora District (which includes the Fort Frances area) says it's a height of activity not seen in this corner of northwestern Ontario since the early 1980's.
"It's not one major centre like Red Lake, it's spread out over a fairly big area."
There are no producing mines in the area -- not yet anyway -- but there are several significant programs underway. The Rainy River district has been the catalyst for the surge of exploration that's stretched northeast toward Dryden over the last two years.
The Ministry of Northern Development and Mines estimates the value of exploration work in the Kenora District at $34 million, pretty impressive considering there are no operating mines in the area.
A good chunk of exploration work is taking place to the west and east of Highway 71, which runs north to Kenora.
The most advanced product is Canadian Arrow Mines' Kenbridge deposit near Sioux Narrows. The Sudbury junior miner is moving toward development of an open pit and underground copper-nickel mine with the blessing of local Treaty 3 communities.
Ravnaas says the Rainy River area had fallen into the same dormant path as Dryden and Kenora's historic mining camps from the early 20th century that have been largely neglected for years.
One of the area's biggest and most exciting players is Rainy River Resources.
The Vancouver outfit's gold discoveries in Richardson Township, 55 kilometres northwest of Fort Frances, is getting bigger and bigger. In September, they trumpeted a seventh high grade gold discovery in a new zone running east following a step-out drilling program.
One drill hole revealed three wide, multi-gram gold intervals near surface. Rainy River president Nelson Baker called the near-surface discovery a "significant new event" for the company that demonstrates the "unusual gold potential of this exciting property."
The company has been super-aggressive since acquiring the property in 2006, spending $15 million in exploration and drilling about 230 holes, mostly directed at targets in their 17/ODM gold zones.
Their success has drawn in junior miners like Bayview Ventures, Skyharbour Resources and Range Metals on nearby properties to the south and east.
Across Highway 71, Rainy River Resources also has its Off Lake property along with other projects by Western Warrior Resources, Nuinsco Resources and Houston Lake Mining, the latter is working a big parcel of ground that's now in its seventh year of exploration.
Metalore Resources is producing gold results on their Cedartree Property and there's talk of Nuinsco de-watering the historical workings at the old Cameron Lake gold mine.
Ravnaas says there's a geological dividing line in the Sioux Narrows-Nestor Falls area called the Pipestone-Cameron Fault, which runs northwest to southeast through the area. To the north, it's copper-nickel exploration. Everything to the south and east has gold potential.
The other cluster of activity is east of Fort Frances, straddling Highway 11 along the eastern shores of Rainy Lake.
Ravnaas identifies three exploration projects between Fort Frances and Mine Centre. The small community, 55 kilometres to the east, has a history of gold development, along the edge of Bad Vermilion Lake.
Q-Gold Resources Ltd. is drilling on a big land package with gold and base metal potential, focusing their efforts on the Foley Gold Mine. The company is de-watering the old North Shaft and is cleaning up the various underground levels. The game plan to go after what's within the quartz vein systems.
"They're shoring it up, sampling it in expectation of doing a diamond drill program," says Ravnaas.
Farther east, Numax Resources Inc. is conducting grass roots exploration searching an unexplored body for iron titanium copper-nickel-platinum group metals potential. There's no mining history in this area, says Ravnaas, but it's one of the few occurrences of iron, titanium, and valadium.
"They're looking at the iron potential because there's high iron demand."
Perhaps one of the most unusual finds is diamonds by MetalCorp. The Thunder Bay junior had been exploring a mafic-intrusive body called the North Rock Prospect looking for copper-nickel potential.
What they found was another body to north that geologists call an ultra-mafic fragmental. The rocks discovered were a soft, black-coloured, altered rock that has been often been used for soapstone.
A 100-kilogram bulk sample was dug out and sent off for caustic fusion analysis which recovered six diamonds. Kennecott Canada, a Rio Tinto plc subsidiary, has entered the picture and signed a letter of intent to partner with MetalCorp on the newly-named GUP Diamond Project.
"It's the first confirmation that diamonds exist in this portion of Ontario," says Ravnaas. "Hopefully it opens up everyone's eyes that diamonds can be found anywhere in Ontario."
The Ontario Geological Survey has been doing his part to whip up the exploration enthusiasm by hosting a series of well-attended information sessions this past summer in Fort Frances, Dryden and Kenora.
Economic development and First Nations people, local politicians, and even the mineral exploration firms, have developed a keen interest in what's going on around them.
Ravnaas has taken them through the mineral development sequence and explained what exploration is taking place near their communities and how they can benefit from exploration and development down the road.
Bit by bit there have been business spinoffs spread across the region with field crews filling hotel rooms in the Sioux Narrows area. Outdoor equipment suppliers are picking up orders and local excavation companies are doing stripping programs and later getting road building contracts.
For companies, the chronic shortage of diamond drills is improving, but finding qualified geologists remains a chore, says Ravnaas.
However, the forecast looks brighter still with more companies coming into the Werner Lake area (north of Kenora) looking for copper, nickel and base metal potential.
"There's still land available to explore, still new concepts and ideas going on from open Crown land to significant showings that are dormant, which are available for option right across the district. Some have tonnage, some have really good potential."
