EXPLORATION 1997 — B.C. exploration spending tops $100 million in 1996

Government officials estimate that $100 million was spent on mineral exploration in British Columbia last year, a 20% increase from 1995.

The largest exploration program in 1996 was carried out by Royal Oak Mines (RYO-T), which spent $8 million at the Red Mountain gold project, north of Stewart.

Of the total amount spent on exploration in 1996, 15% was spent at mine sites, 73% at advanced projects and 12% on grassroots projects. An estimated 210 projects had budgets of more than $100,000, a 13% decrease from 1995. Of these, over 25 projects had budgets exceeding $1 million.

Companies tested a variety of exploration targets. Porphyry targets, though, attracted 41.5% of spending, 32.5% was spent on vein targets, and 12.1% of spending was directed at massive sulphide projects.

Grassroots exploration was focused in the Cariboo, Toodoggone and Babine Lake districts for gold-enriched porphyries, the Stewart camp for mesothermal and transitional gold deposits, the Wells-Barkerville region for mesothermal and bulk-minable gold deposits and the Sullivan and Gataga regions for sedex deposits.