Creative thinking needed, Vior president says

A photo of Albert Einstein with the expression “imagination is more important than knowledge” lies next to the desk of Claude St-Jacques, president of Quebec City-based Societe d’Exploration Miniere Vior (ME).

That expression is totally appropriate for miners, St-Jacques explains. Mining “is a trade of imagination,” he says.

“You have to be very creative in mining exploration in order to last. It’s a trade of risk, a field in which you’re rarely, very rarely compensated. It’s very, very difficult.”

A certain drive and tenacity must be maintained, he says, in the face of exploration cycles that can take five or 10 years until you see the fruits of your labor.

Fortunately, St-Jacques believes Vior is about to see the fruits of patience and tenacity at its Douay gold property northeast of Joutel in Quebec’s Abitibi region. Three drill rigs are at work as part of an $850,000 program started up in January; the program is being partly financed by the Quebec Crown mining exploration company Soquem.

Thirty-seven holes totalling 39,356 ft. were drilled in January and February. And some 15,000 ft. of drilling are planned for March and April in another $450,000 drilling program, to be financed 35% by Inco (TSE). “There’s lots of smoke in that property,” says St-Jacques of the Douay project. “We’re still looking for the fire, but there’s smoke all over. It’s an immense property. I think we have something big there.”

And after several financial manoeuvres, Vior, formed in 1984, became the sole owner of the property. In 1986, Vior took a 35% option of the Douay property from Inco for $2.5 million; Inco had a 40% interest and Cambior 25%. Later, Vior and Inco bought Cambior’s interest; Vior increased its total to 47%. In late 1991, Vior bought the rest of the property in a deal that made Inco the principal shareholder of Vior.

It is an excellent deal for the two parties, St-Jacques says. It allows Vior to enlarge its holdings and lets Inco concentrate on its nickel and copper. While Vior has some 30 properties, it plans to concentrate on Douay for the next six months.

Vior also has major holdings in several mining companies, such as Societe d’Exploration Miniere Dufresnoy (ME), Virginia Gold Mines (ME) and Goldhurst Resources (VSE), and close links with junior Societe d’Exploration Miniere Mazarin (ME). In addition, the company administers Maufort Resources (ME) and Demontigny Minerals Resources out of its offices.

Eight people work in Vior’s Quebec City office and there are six technical staffers in the Noranda-Rouyn, Que., office which is headed by Jean Descarreaux, who joined in January as vice-president of exploration. While it may seem “bizarre” for Vior to be based in Quebec City, St-Jacques says the charming city is an agreeable place in which to live and work. “It’s like a village,” he says. “You don’t feel the pressure of the big city.” Offices are in the “old city” on St. Pierre St., which 50 years ago was the financial heart of Quebec City, and has recently seen a slight rejuvenation. Born in Quebec City, St-Jacques, 37, moved to Montreal as a child and lived in the West Island. He returned to Quebec City for university studies and graduated in 1982 from Laval University in public relations and administration.

His mining career began after graduation when he worked as a consultant for the then Quebec City-based Quebec Prospectors Association. St-Jacques had no idea that he would end up in mining. “From the first time I worked in the sector, I found it interesting,” he said. “There’s a gambling side to it that I like a lot.”

St-Jacques spends a quarter of his time on the road in Montreal, Abitibi and Toronto, and takes one or two vacation trips annually. Summer vacations are spent in Kennebunkport, Me., where U.S. President George Bush likes to holiday.

Last summer, St-Jacques says, his chalet was next to Bush’s home. On one occasion, St-Jacques played golf directly behind the president and about 20 gun-toting secret service agents, who, he says, seemed to know everything about the mining executive, his 3-year-old son and his car.

A confident St-Jacques predicts that his company will emerge from the recession as one of only two or three extremely active junior mining groups in Quebec. “There are three or four companies who will last, but not 20 or 30. That’s impossible,” he says.