West end of Timmins gold camp sees new life: flurry of activity in the wake of Lake Shore Gold success.

• Author: Stewart, Nick
• Position: MINING

Once considered barren ground for gold, the west end of the Timmins camp has become a hotbed of activity with major exploration breakthroughs in recent years.

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With the mantra "There's no gold west of the Mattagami" once considered to be common knowledge among regional exploration firms and geologists alike, Lake Shore Gold Inc.'s successes in the area have all but obliterated the idea.

This has drawn any number of companies to the west side of the camp, with some expanding their holdings and others delving into the area for the first time.

Included in the latter category is Nebu Resources Inc., a former uranium explorer who shifted gears to gold. In April 2009, Nebu snapped up a handful of properties located next to what was once West Timmins Mining Inc. and has steadily increased its land holdings in the area through the year.

This includes an additional 11 claims Nebu picked up in February which sit adjacent to Goldcorp Inc.'s past-producing Nabob Mine.

"They're extremely well-positioned, they're just right on the northern edge of the Destor-Porcupine Fault, so they look very good and there's been very little exploration work done as they've been tied up in an estate for many years," says Brian Murray president and CEO of Nebu.

"So we think there's a great opportunity with these."

Providing additional confidence is Bruce Durham, their chief geologist, who served for years in the same role for Band-Ore Resources Ltd., the predecessor to West Timmins Mining.

That confidence helped Nebu raise $655,000 in December and fund exploration, particularly on its North and South Denton properties, where there have been some gold showings near surface.

Some historical exploration was seen on North Denton, with only the briefest of mining from an open pit, but the remainder has seen little to no work at all, leaving a great deal of potential, Murray says. Some early successes have already turned up 98.4 grams of gold per tonne over 4.7 metres.

Two rigs will turn on the properties through 2010 on up to 8,000 metres of drilling planned, though more may be conducted as results roll in.

While stock prices have edged slowly downwards off the "euphoria" seen in 2009 as investors wait on other good drill results, Murray says he fully expects it won't be long before 2010 returns to...