Ontario mineral boom gives juniors much-needed lift
The fate of Canada's troubled mineral exploration sector rests with half a dozen firms this week.
The 700 junior mining firms gathered in Toronto for the annual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) are counting on a discovery in northern Ontario to finally revive the fortunes of the ailing industry.
"A good discovery in our own backyard would help the market tremendously," said one Toronto analyst. "All the elements are there to finally bring back the market's confidence."
Only five years ago, three major discoveries made junior exploration the place to invest. In Vancouver, Diamond Fields Resources found the massive Voisey Bay nickel deposit in Newfoundland while Arequipa Resources discovered the Pierina gold deposit in Peru. Meanwhile, Bre-X Minerals of Calgary claimed to have found the world's largest gold deposit deep in the Indonesian jungle.
Then on March 19, 1997, Michael de Guzman, Bre-X's chief geologist, fell to his death from a helicopter over the Kalimantan jungle. The Bre-X bubble burst, casting suspicion over the entire industry. Small investors ran to the hills and by the end of the year, the value of speculative mining stocks on the Vancouver and Alberta stock exchanges fell a hefty 60% to about
$6-billion.
Going from bad to worse, base and precious metal prices headed into a slump and major producers slashed exploration budgets. It has become increasingly difficult for cash-hungry juniors to raise money on the public market. In January, Canadian juniors hoped to raise about C$57-million in equity; investors managed to scrape together less than C$10-million.
"We are in a state of crisis," said David Comba, the PDAC's issues management director. "A lot of drilling companies are facing Chapter 11 (bankruptcy)."
It's estimated more than a hundred North American juniors have given up the battle and made dramatic "change of business" announcements, abandoning exploration in favor of more speculative Internet plays.
With fingers crossed, analysts say there may be a light glimmering at the end of the tunnel. The discovery of diamonds, platinum and palladium in northern Ontario has sparked a rare wave of optimism.
"There's lots of things bubbling away," said Andre Audet, president of Resources Majescor of Quebec City, Quebec. "We may be on the verge of a breakout."
About 330 kilometers south of Wawa near the city of Sudbury, a platinum group metals play is in its infancy. Pacific North West Capital of Vancouver controls a sweeping 180km2 of land. Initial results attracted a $4.3-million exploration investment last August from South Africa's Anglo American Platinum Corporation, the world's largest platinum producer. In late February, the company began drilling its most promising property, River Valley. Grab samples from the site have measured up to 12.6 grams per tonne of platinum group metals, platinum, palladium and rhodium.
Ironically, much of the Sudbury area was explored decades ago - for nickel and copper - by Toronto's Inco and rival Falconbridge. The two companies have major nickel operations in the northern town.
"PGMs are undeniably hot," said Douglas Hickey, Pacific North West director. "There's a bunch of juniors circling around to do an area play". |
