PROFILE (August 05, 1991)

Situated in northern Quebec, the Joutel copper deposit is believed to be similar in origin to the famous Louvicourt orebody. Recently Louvicourt’s part-owner Aur Resources signed an agreement with Joutel Resources to test below the past-producing copper mine along strike and at depth for extension and repetition.

Joutel has no revenue from production, but it is debt-free. “We are good at identifying projects and enhancing these projects,” President Charles Page, 39, told The Northern Miner.

Projects in Quebec, British Columbia and Newfoundland aside, Joutel has 10 base and precious metals prospects in Ontario’s Matheson, Timmins and Bourkes areas. “We are taking advantage of the Ontario Mineral Incentive Program,” says Page.

One of Joutel’s chief assets is its controlling ownership of Queenston Mining, with which the company shares management. Still a student at Brock University, Page first worked for Queenston President Hugh Harbinson’s father, Noble, in the summer of 1972 on a base metal project in Ontario’s Sturgeon Lake area.

In 1975, Page graduated from Brock with a B.Sc. in geology and in 1983 from the University of Waterloo with a Master’s degree in earth sciences. Meanwhile, he served as the Harbinson Mining & Oil Group’s chief geologist and vice-president of exploration. Joutel, founded in 1961 by Kerr Addison to mine the Joutel copper deposit, was purchased by Noble in the late 1970s when the mine ceased production.

In 1979, Page met Hugh Harbinson who joined the group that year. They left the group in the mid-1980s and started out on their own. The turf of Joutel, purchased from Noble, is across the country, says Page, while Queenston banks on the Kirkland Lake area. “Joutel has roots in base metals,” he adds. “Queenston’s chief assets are in gold.”

Page does not seem overly concerned about the progressively restrictive environmental regulations. “We have a responsibility to our children,” he says. “I believe we can overcome these difficulties with our technologies.” At present Joutel, whose properties are on Crown land, does not have any projects that involve tailings ponds. “If we have to pose a $3-million bond, we have

a significant deposit that will pay.”

Joutel has no plan to join the exodus to Latin America. “We are based here and have a good handle on the Abitibi area. I believe a world-class mine is to be discovered in the area.”

Proud of Page’s profession, his two daughters, Heather and Cory, age 9 and 7, often take rock samples from home to show their schoolmates. His wife Lynne accompanies him on some excursions and helps prepare his presentations. For an art class, Cory drew a picture of the world and placed Page on top of it. She named her masterpiece: “My dad digs for copper.”