Dryden becomes player in mineral exploration: untouched and untapped, more than 50 mining companies have started area exploration in the last year.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: DRYDEN/KENORA

The City of Dryden expects to land a mineral exploration company shortly to begin work this year on a package of assembled properties in an old gold mining camp.

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The municipality and a junior miner were putting the final touches on an agreement that would open up exploration on a vacant 2,000-acre parcel of both city- and private-owned land in Van Horne Township on Dryden's outskirts.

City councillor Mike Wood would not disclose the identity of the company until they had completed their TSX filings.

He says they're an experienced team that's been involved with major gold corporations on big mine projects in Ontario. The city will have an option agreement with the company to pick up royalties should the package of properties ever go into production.

"We're doing things differently than typical exploration work," says Wood, who's overseeing the city's geoscience mapping initiative.

Instead of a prospector or junior miner staking a claim, going out to do some grass roots fieldwork, assembling a large land package and then notifying neighbouring communities and First Nations when something substantive is discovered, the City of Dryden has opted to do the opposite.

Through their own consulting geologist, the city has identified and assembled the land package, brought in Aboriginal leaders from Grand Council Treaty 3 for consultation, and then solicited interest from exploration companies to come forward.

"It's basically a template for how to do business," says Wood. "It's backward to the way industry has approached it."

It's a more positive partnership and a cooperative approach.

The city has been promoting the area as a largely untapped gold resource that was last mined more than 80 years ago. All of the area's 16 past producing shafts were dug before 1930 and none extended beyond 300 feet.

The Ontario Geological Survey lists 55 companies that have active programs or properties staked for base metals, gold, uranium, molybdenum, even diamonds, in the Kenora District, which includes Dryden.

Many of the properties have had previous exploration and some extraction over the years, but juniors are back in there as mineral prices remain high.

"The increase (in activity) in this neck of the woods has been through the roof," says Wood. "No one's done any serious exploration in this area for generations."

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