Skip to content

Lake Nipigon area hot spot for PGE exploration (3/02)

The Lake Nipigon region has become one of the North's hot spots in terms of platinum group element (PGE) exploration.

The Lake Nipigon region has become one of the North's hot spots in terms of platinum group element (PGE) exploration.

Staking and exploration activity for PGE minerals in Ontario are now at the highest levels ever recorded, indicating a strong and vibrant future for the province's mining industry, Dan Newman, minister or northern development and mines says.

"The Nipigon basin is currently being explored by more than 15 companies on more than 35 properties, with most looking for copper-nickel PGE mineral deposits," Newman says.

Activity in the Lake Nipigon area topped the list of hot spots, followed by Lac des Iles, East Bull Lake, Agnew Lake, Dana Lake and Seymour Lake. The Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp. is investing $3.5 million toward a geoscience mapping project aimed at attracting mineral investment to the area. The Ontario Prospectors Association in co-operation with its private-sector partners, Lakehead University and communities in the Lake Nipigon area, will undertake the one-year $7-million study.