Ontario to lift part of Cobalt-area land caution

The Ontario government recently announced it has reached an agreement with the Bear Island Indian Band clearing the way for mineral exploration of 1,100 sq. km of land that has been frozen to exploration since 1963. The mines and minerals division of the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines hopes to partially lift the caution, declared in 1963 when the band made its land claim, by midnight March 31.

“Reopening the land for prospecting and staking will provide economic stimulus to the Temiskaming area, while lifting the caution will result in opportunities for mineral development and mining outside the Teme-Augama Anishnabai land claim,” said Mines Minister Hugh O’Neil during a news conference at the Haileybury School of Mines, Jan. 25.

The president of the Northern Prospectors’ Association, Mike Leahy, is predicting heavy interest in the soon-to-be-opened lands, especially in the Cobalt area. “A lot of the majors have already set aside money for exploration in this area in anticipation of the caution being lifted,” Leahy said.

The area in question stretches from the Temagami district to a point just a few kilometers south of Timmins. “The exact parameters of the land to be reopened still have to be finalized,” O’Neil said.

Mike Cherry, the acting head of the precambrian geology section of the Ontario Geological Survey, says the area being opened up has potential for gold and base metals. “However, our knowledge is based on a mature database,” he said.

In 1981, an OGS study compared the Lorrain formation, west of Cobalt, with the Witwatersrand Basin in South Africa. Cherry says the political climate has prevented anyone from gathering substantial information on the lands in question.

In recent years there have been a number of airborne geophysical surveys completed by the ministry across various parts of northern Ontario. Cherry says an airborne survey for the Temagami district has been discussed but never carried through in light of the land caution.

Of the 39 areas that are due to be caution-free, 25 fall within the jurisdiction of the Sudbury office. The balance fall within the jurisdiction of the Kirkland Lake office. Sudbury spokesman Vic Miller says he’s not sure how many claims will be available March 31. He says April will be a busy month.

“Those who have registered claims and existing ownership within the new area will be contacted as soon as the area is outlined once and for all,” Miller said.

The partial lifting of the land caution is expected to pump economic adrenaline into the Temagami area. The area is losing more than 600 jobs on March 30, with the closing of the Dofasco-owned Adams and Sherman iron ore mines in Kirkland Lake and Temagami.