Quebec juniors ready for removal of North Shore staking ban

With the staking ban expected to be lifted soon, a host mining companies is poised to converge on the area near Lac Manitou on Quebec’s North Shore.

In August, while carrying out a mapping program in the region, a team of provincial government geologists stumbled upon a gossan 60 km northeast of Sept-Iles. Assays returned 2% nickel, 2.3% copper and 0.12% cobalt, while two samples from a second gossan yielded, respectively, 2.2% nickel and 1.5% copper, and 1.4% nickel and 5.9% copper.

Government officials in Quebec City responded quickly by staking the land immediately surrounding the showing, while, at the same time, placing a staking freeze on an 800-sq.-km parcel of land surrounding those claims.

Only Denise Carrier-Perreault, Quebec’s minister of Mines, Lands and Forests, has the power to lift the ban. The government says it has no plans to relinquish the claims it has staked.

Michel Poirier, director of corporate development for GeoNova Explorations (GNE-M), predicts the ban will be lifted in a matter of weeks.

While satisfied with the prospects of the 50 claims GeoNova has staked in the perimeter of the frozen area, Poirier says his company is ready to join in the rush, if and when it comes. He suggests a lottery system would be the fairest means of distributing claims in the area.

He says the staking ban was necessary to prevent individual companies from taking advantage of any information leaks. “As it stands, those who are interested have had the chance to position themselves and get ready.” Andre Gaumond disagrees.

The president of Virginia Gold Mines (VIR-M) insists it is unfair that his company, which has been exploring in the vicinity of Lac Manitou for several years, is being robbed of its well-earned competitive advantage.

Virginia has already staked about 1,500 claims in the area.

Gaumond says he has appealed to government officials to lift the ban without notice, so that at least a portion of Virginia’s competitive advantage could be preserved. Otherwise, he says, speculators will move in, once the ban is lifted, and stake ground solely in order to resell it at a premium.

He adds that a surprise reopening would ensure that no more companies would be able to join the staking rush. “Fifteen is better than 50.” Gaumond believes there is significant potential in the Lac Manitou area for the discovery of more than one economic nickel-copper-cobalt deposit.

“We don’t need another Voisey’s Bay to make a mine. This discovery is 15 km away from a railroad and close to the third-rated harbor in the world, so it could have a lower grade than Voisey’s Bay and yet be more profitable.”