EDITORIAL PAGE — There’s no place like home

Canada’s globe-trotting geologists have found that there is no place like home when it comes to the geologic information routinely made available to help them make economic mineral discoveries.

Few other countries have the kind of open system in which high-quality information is easily obtainable.

The average Canadian taxpayer probably knows little about the activities carried out by the Geological Survey of Canada and its provincial counterparts. And a list of recent GSC publications might give some taxpayers the impression that much of the work done by GSC is esoteric and abstract, and perhaps of little use to geologists and prospectors hoping to make economic discoveries.

But this impression is quickly dispelled when one considers the exploration history of some of Canada’s recent mineral discoveries. Last week, we reported on how eight individuals who participated in the disovery of Inmet Mining’s Troilus gold-copper project shared a $1.3-million incentive bonus. Significantly, the original work that led to this discovery was based on a favorable geological report by the Quebec government.

Cominco’s ABM polymetallic discovery in the Yukon provides yet another example of how companies can make discoveries by following up reconnaissance work carried out by government geologists.

Yet another example, also in the Yukon, is Loki Gold’s Brewery Creek gold deposit near Dawson, which was discovered by Noranda Exploration after its team of geologists followed up some geochemical work by government geologists.

And while much has been made of the fact that government geologists working in Labrador landed on and tested samples from what is now known as the Voisey Bay gossan (without recognizing its true potential), their work in the area did lay the groundwork for Voisey Bay’s discoverers to understand the setting and significance of what they found.

Between 1985 and 1987, Newfoundland’s Department of Natural Resources undertook a regional survey to map a corridor about 60 km wide by 150 km long between the Atlantic Coast and the Quebec border. Originally, this work was aimed at assessing the potential of the area for rare-earth-bearing peralkaline granites, such as those discovered shortly before, near the Quebec border at Strange Lake.

A decade ago, this work was of little interest to anybody. In particular, the igneous rocks of the Nain area were not considered all that prospective, being largely Mesoproterozoic anorthosite and granite, which have traditionally been regarded as unlikely to host base metals.

Nevertheless, the government work was put to good use by the Voisey Bay discovery team, who used the data to help them understand the significance of the troctolitic rock and to determine other prospective units in the Nain area and elsewhere in Labrador.

And in the subsequent staking rush, the results of the regional mapping program were eagerly sought by a host of exploration companies that visited the region’s Department of Natural Resources to learn about the setting of the Voisey Bay deposit and find nearby areas prospective for similar targets.

Government data are the starting point for many of Canada’s best discoveries. And that fact is well worth remembering at a time when, at both the federal and provincial level, the proverbial axe is being sharpened for budget-chopping.