Probe mines.

• Author: Kelly, Lindsay
• Position: NEWS - Exploration projects

Prospectors hadn't paid much attention to the exploration potential around Chapleau until 2010, when the results of drilling done by Probe Mines at its Borden property showed gold running top to bottom through all eight core samples. It was low-grade, but showed enough promise that the company hasn't stopped drilling since.

"It's hard not to be blown away by the positive aspects of this project," said Bre-anne Beh, Probe's exploration manager, during a recent visit to Sudbury"Basi-cally, 99 per cent of the company's efforts right now are focused on the Borden gold deposit."

The company's excitement over the deposit was echoed by the Ontario Prospector's Association last November, when the organization awarded Probe the 2013 Ontario Prospector Award for the discovery.

Located one kilometre off Highway 101 just outside the town of Chapleau and 10 minutes from rail access, the property, comprised of 400 square kilometres of claims, is at the edge of the Kapuskas-ing structural zone and Wawa sub-province, amongst rocks that aren't typically known for hosting gold. It's one reason why not much exploration has taken place there.

"People didn't really think they'd be the best rocks to look in for gold," Beh said.

"So it's really created a very unique situation here where, somewhere like Timmins or Wawa, they've had 100-plus years of exploration and here in the Chapleau area there's virtually nothing that's been done, so it's very exciting."

A January 2013 resource estimate showed an indicated resource of 3,686,000 ounces of gold averaging 1.02 grams per tonne (0) and an additional inferred resource of 625,000 ounces of gold averaging 1.08 g/t (figures based on an open-pit model).

"What's interesting about Borden is that it's, literally, a new discovery," Beh said. "This isn't a revisited gold camp. It's really a prospecting success story"

The community of Chapleau, which has traditionally been a lumber town, has been receptive to the work and the potential for economic development spinoffs, Beh said. Probe has had a memorandum of understanding in place since 2011 with the three neighbouring...