Gold takes centre stage at Roundup

Vancouver — A mining industry almost giddy with excitement was in evidence at the 21st annual Mineral Exploration Roundup, held recently at this city’s Westin Bayshore Resort and Marina.

The theme of this year’s conference, “Creating Wealth through Discovery,” brought together roughly 4,000 delegates from 24 countries, and more than 175 exhibitors, attended the 4-day event. There were 118 technical posters on display, 31 core shack exhibits, and two short courses.

The technical sessions began with the annual review of activities, presented by representatives of the geological surveys of Canada, the Yukon and British Columbia. This year, the review focused on projects in the Findlayson Lake, Stewart River, Toodoggone, Eskay Creek, and Bowser Basin areas of the Yukon and British Columbia.

The value of mineral production in British Columbia in 2003 is expected to be $3 billion. About 35% of that amount is attributed to coal, and 20% to copper. Production stemmed from six metal mines, seven coal mines, more than 40 industrial minerals mines, and 1,100 aggregate operations.

Last year, exploration spending in the province totalled $50 million, or 25% more than in 2002, and 76% of the funds were devoted to advanced work.

Among the topics under discussion was financing trends. Exploration spending in Canada and around the world is on the rise, and global consolidation has changed the way exploration and development are proceeding. Canada now ranks first in the world in terms of exploration expenditures, surpassing Australia for the first time since 1994, and this country’s flow-through share program has been so effective that South Africa, Chile and Australia are considering implementing similar programs.

Technical sessions focused on Vancouver-based companies. Among the projects discussed were Great Basin Gold‘s (GBG-V) Burnstone property in South Africa, First Quantum Minerals‘ (FM-T) deposits in the central African copper belt, Minco Mining & Metals‘ (MMM-V) gold project in central China, and Canico Resource‘s (CNI-T) Ona Puma nickel latterite deposit in Brazil.

Attendance was high at talks devoted to the Kupol gold-silver deposit in the far-eastern Russia, the El Limon gold-skarn deposit in southern Mexico, the Toki porphyry copper deposit in northern Chile, the Kisladag gold deposit in western Turkey, and the Oyu Tolgoi porphyry copper-gold deposit in southern Mongolia.

Closer to home, SpectrumGold (SGX-T) shed light on its Galore Creek copper-gold project in northwestern British Columbia, and Imperial Metals (III-T) provided details about its copper-gold discovery at Mt. Polley, near Williams Lake, B.C.

The last day of the conference was largely devoted to diamond exploration in Canada. Since the major discovery of the Lac de Gras diamond district in 1991, the exploration community has been scouring the Prairies, the Artic, Ontario and Quebec in search of kimberlites. Little wonder, then, that delegates flocked to presentations given by Ashton Mining of Canada (ACA-T), Diamondex Resources (DSP-V), Shear Minerals (SRM-V) and Stornoway Diamond (SWY-V), eager to learn about their findings.

Another session focused on projects that have avanced either to the feasibility or production stage. Chief among these are Miramar Mining‘s (MAE-T) Hope Bay gold project in Nunavut, Canadian Royalties‘ (CZZ-V) Mesamax and Expo nickel/copper/platinum-group- metals deposits in northern Quebec, and Cumberland Resources‘ (CBD-T) Meadowbank gold project in Nunavut.

At the reception dinner, Peter Fox, who discovered the QR gold mine, near Quesnel, B.C., was presented with the British Columbia Chamber of Mines’ H.H. “Spud” Huestis Award, honouring excellence in prospecting.

Fox, who presides over Fox Geological Consultants, contributed to the geological understanding of porphyry copper-gold deposits, platinum-group-element mineralization, and epithermal gold systems throughout British Columbia, the Yukon and Alaska.

Barrick Gold‘s (ABX-T) Eskay Creek team received the Chamber’s E.A. Scholz Award for mine development. The team, active from 1995 to 2002, consists of Gary Biles, James Rogers, Ian Cunningham-Dunlop and David Kuran, all of whom were employed by Homestake Canada at the time.

Eskay Creek, an underground gold-silver mine in northern British Columbia, about 80 km north of Stewart, has a reserve of 1.4 million oz. gold and 64.4 million oz. silver. Production began in 1995, and Barrick acquired its 100% interest in the mine as a result of merging with Homestake in late 2001. In 2002, Eskay Creek produced a record 358,718 oz. gold and 17.8 million oz. silver at a total cash cost of US$40 per oz. gold.

The Murray Pezim Award, which recognizes achievements in mineral exploration finance, was given to John Tognetti, president of Vancouver-based Haywood Securities. Tognetti led Haywood Securities against the market grain during the period between 1998 to 2002, when the exploration sector was suffering capital starvation and regulatory upheaval. He built up a team of analysts, established an institutional trading division, and added offices in Toronto and Calgary.

Ninety school students, from grades three to five, also attended the conference. Sporting bright yellow mining helmets and red t-shirts, they participated in a gold-panning game and played “Stump the Geologist” by presenting mysterious rocks and minerals to professionals for identification. The student program was organized by the Mining Association of British Columbia and the British Columbia & Yukon Chamber of Mines.