Ontario gives grants worth $4 million for exploration

Ontario’s Ministry of Northern Development and Mines approved 420 applications representing $4 million in grants for funding this year under the Ontario Prospectors Assistance Program (OPAP), the ministry reported.

Almost 930 applications were received, the ministry said. OPAP provides grants of up to $10,000 to qualified individuals to carry out prospecting and grassroots exploration in the province.

Meanwhile, the ministry has released a package of geophysical maps that portray the magnetic field of the province in computer-enhanced shaded images. The 4-sheet map package brings together aeromagnetic data from surveys flown for the Geological Survey of Canada and the Ontario Geological Survey since 1947.

Also, the results of a recently completed airborne geophysical survey in the Shebandowan area near Thunder Bay have been released by the ministry. Maps may be purchased from ministry mining recorder offices in Toronto, Thunder Bay, Kenora, Sioux Lookout and Red Lake.