Three prospectors vend claims for $1.4 million

But every so often the classic story of a bush-ranging prospector finding a new mineral showing and selling his claims for a small fortune unfolds, proving that the prospector’s “rags to riches” dream is still possible, even in this modern computer age.

Such has been the case for a Quebec prospector, Lionel Lefebvre and his two partners, Edward (Buster) Ingham and Glen McCormick. In less than a year they have chalked up more than $1 million from the sale of a group of virtually unexplored mining claims near Lac St. Jean, Que.

Around this time last year, the trio vended a package of unexplored claims, situated north of Lac St. Jean, to Toronto-based McNickel Inc. (COATS), and partners St. Philips Resources (VSE) and Ramcor Resources (VSE) of Vancouver.

The claims they sold are the site of a 7,000-m drilling campaign by Toronto-junior McNickel. That company could spend up to $3.5 million on the claims by Sept 30, 1991. McNickel hopes to prove the economic worth of some copper- nickel showings on the property.

But long before the drills arrived to start probing the ground this month, the private company set-up by prospectors Lefebvre, Ingham and McCormick had already received cash and shares worth nearly $1.4 million. The company also holds various net profit royalties from any future base metal production from their claims.

The patches of gossan-colored nickeliferous rock that originally attracted McNickel, and later up to 50 other juniors to the Lac St. Jean area, had been found previously by LeFebvre, who resides just outside the nearby town of Dolbeau, Que. He had worked at various times as a fur trader, road builder and prospector.

Last September, he and Val d’Or- based entrepreneur Ingham, along with McCormick, a geophysicist from Chibougamau, Que., teamed up to sell their claims, proving that old-style prospectors can still profit from their bush-combing activities.

“It was the classical story of a bushman and his partners seizing an opportunity to benefit from their knowledge of a virtually unexplored area,” says geologist Nelson Baker, who works for various juniors involved in the Lac St. Jean play.

McCormick, was a long-time personal friend of the principals behind McNickel which is now drilling the claims. He was instrumental in involving the well-known pair of junior mine-finders, Terry Flanagan and John McAdam, who manage McNickel, along with a host of other successful junior companies in Toronto.

As a result of his almost overnight success, Lefebvre is now reported to be taking prospecting quite seriously and is putting his efforts back into claim staking and a feverish search for new mineral showings.

Says Ingham, “The Lac St. Jean find has been a real boon for us. It’s helping to keep bread and butter on our tables.”

The trio’s success comes on the heels of a dramatic decline in the availability of flow-through funding for junior mining projects. That drop in funding (about 75% this year across Canada) has been a virtual body blow to the once entrepreneurial and aggressive junior explorers.

While Ingham takes credit for masterminding the lucrative option deals struck last year with McNickel and St. Philips, he admits that “nothing could have happened without all three (partners) working together.”

Ingham, the 39-year-old son of a former Val d’Or resident geologist, says he learned much of what he knows about mining deals from his father and through experience.

“I don’t have any professional degrees, but I’ve learned a lot from working in the bush,” he says.

Formed as a syndicate to hold the original Lac St. Jean properties, the trio’s private company, Grenville Base Metals, could be taken public in the near future. This would be done on the strength of another 16 claims the company holds near the McNickel property.

“If things work out well, the various royalty interests we have in the McNickel claims could be worth a few dollars too,” he chuckled.

Drilling is currently under way on the McNickel property and a number of other juniors are also busy exploring their claims in the area.

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