Drilling for discovery [Northwestern Ontario’s mining sector] – by Maureen Arges Nadin (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – December 28, 2011)

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

Maureen Arges Nadin is a contributor to The Chronicle-Journal.

Every grade school student in Ontario learns that mining is one of the major industries of Northwestern Ontario. But beyond getting a good grade in social studies, most of us never give it more than a passing thought or fully appreciate its importance to the economy and culture of this region.

The mining industry is a strong and rock-solid presence in this area and regularly hums with activity. But most of that activity flies under the radar of every-day folks, who may not have a direct involvement with the industry.

But developments in the provocatively named Ring of Fire have awakened a new-found interest in the mining sector. People are paying attention, and inspired by the promise of renewed activity and jobs, they are looking to enhance their knowledge of mining in Northwestern Ontario.

Thunder Bay has a strong connection to the mining sector, and since the Hemlo gold discoveries in the 1980s, it has served as the regional service hub for the exploration and mining sectors.

Although the discovery of chromite in the Ring of Fire is generating most of the attention at the moment, it is gold that has dominated the regional mining scene, currently and historically.

This has been the case since Peter McKellar and an Aboriginal prospecting crew, on the heels of the Silver Islet silver discovery in 1868, discovered gold in the Shebandowan area in 1871. Today, Northwestern Ontario can boast that it is home to three of the four top gold-producing mines in Canada: Red Lake Mine (Goldcorp Inc.); Musselwhite Mine, 500 kilometres north of Thunder Bay (Goldcorp); and Williams Mine near Marathon (Barrick Gold Corp.)

Gold is not the only precious metal that is mined in Northwestern Ontario.

Lac des Illes Mine (North American Palladium Ltd.) produces palladium, a rare silvery white and lustrous metal that is part of the platinum group of metals. Palladium is used for many things, but over half of the current production supply goes to making catalytic converters for automobiles, making it a “green metal” that, indirectly, helps keep the air clean.

Development of these mines did not occur overnight.

The actual production and operational stage of any deposit usually occurs at the end of a very lengthy process. Alexander Graham Bell once said, “Great discoveries and improvements invariably involve the co-operation of many minds.”

This is especially true in the mining industry where the major stakeholders work collaboratively from the first stage of the mining sequence — exploration — to the final stage of production.

And it can be a slow and painstaking process where actual mineral production can take anywhere from seven to 100 years from the time of the initial mineral occurrence and land acquisition.

There are five major stages of mining development and the stakeholders play a critical role in each. Aboriginal consultation is key in all stages.

The first stage is exploration, where prospecting and staking of claims, sampling and drilling as well as environmental baseline work takes place. This grassroots exploration is undertaken by individual prospectors or junior exploration companies.

The second stage is evaluation, which consists of more advanced exploration strategies undertaken by mining companies. This is where drilling and excavation occurs for the purpose of bulk sampling.

Companies will also assess profitability at this stage, evaluating everything from location, size and value of the resources to existing infrastructure and potential markets. It can take from three to 15 years from the acquisition of the land to reach this stage, and even then the odds are poor that advanced exploration efforts will mature to mining production.

Only one in 10,000 mineral occurrences found at the exploration stage will result in development of a mine.

This aptly illustrates the patience and determination that is required in the process of exploration that leads to the holy grail of the mining industry — discovery.

The third stage is development. This is where permitting, construction and commissioning occur, and where business and economic opportunities will increase significantly.

New roads and infrastructure may be needed at this point to prepare for the active mining operations that will occur at the fourth stage of the sequence, production.

Ontario’s Mining Act requires that mining companies prepare and finance a formal rehabilitation plan, filed in the evaluation stage, which includes financial assurance for site rehabilitation, monitoring and reclamation. This process constitutes the final stage of mining development: closure and rehabilitation.
This stage can occur anywhere from 20 to 100 years from the point of land acquisition.

Mines and what they produce are an integral part of our lives, especially in Northwestern Ontario.

The mining sector is an important economic driver and contributes, either directly or indirectly, to jobs and growth in our communities.

In Thunder Bay alone, there are 21 active exploration firms and each will require the services of individuals or businesses to support activities such as prospecting, geophysical surveys, geological mapping, diamond drilling and transportation. As the result of the collaboration of multiple disciplines, the eventual mined products are manufactured into items that enhance our life, whether it be in reducing emissions from our cars to the ubiquitous tools and appliances that are produced from stainless steel.

John Mason, Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission’s mining services project manager, observes, “Despite the odds of one in 10,000 mineral occurrences becoming a mine, exploration is a huge economic driver. The exploration business requires skilled prospectors, geologists, drillers, contractors, and service and supply companies to work as a team on hundreds of projects in Northwestern Ontario.”
As a regional population and culture, we have evolved in part as the result of the landscape and topography in which we live. Rocks and minerals are part of our natural environment, and mining, mineral development and the high-tech industries that accompany them are one of our most significant natural resources.

With the current level of excitement and optimism created by the Ring of Fire project, as well as the discovery of a dozen other gold and major mineral deposits and all that they will produce in the next three to five years, now is a good time to learn more about the mining sector.