Driving exploration.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: SPECIAL REPORT: SAULT STE. MARIE

There are no mine headframes around Sault Ste. Marie, but surging mineral commodity prices haven't left the Algoma district in no-man's land.

More than a few juniors and prospectors are sniffing around the granite rock hills north of the city from Mamainse Point on Lake Superior across the Algoma highlands and east toward a resurgent Elliot Lake uranium camp.

Mike Hailstone, the Ontario Geological Survey's resident geologist, says exploration activity, both grass roots and more in-depth, has never been busier.

"This is a banner year. We're hitting all kinds of records."

There are 10 active exploration projects underway in the district with two drills turning.

During an average year, private exploration spending averages between $1.5 million and $2 million. Those levels should easily be surpassed by year's end with as much as $8 million invested.

Pele Mountain Resources, a Toronto-based junior, is spending $5.5 million alone on its Elliot Lake uranium property. The company just released a scoping study outlining a scenario for developing a mine that would produce 826,000 pounds of U308 annually at a cash operating cost of $55.51 US per pound for 18 years.

The Sault and district has had a history of operating mines dating back more than a century The mines of the Algoma Ore Division in Wawa fed iron ore to Algoma Steel's blast furnaces until its closure in 1998. The steelmaker even ran its own mineral exploration division searching the area for ore deposits.

There were also multiple pocket-sized deposits and short-lasting mines including copper producers such as the Tribag and Coppermine north of Batchawana Bay on Lake Superior. Both closed in the early 1970s when commodity prices tanked.

No doubt, Hailstone says, the Algoma district is under-explored since there's all kinds of favourable geology But there hasn't been any kind of full-scale regional exploration program since the 1970s.

In recent years, logging has opened up areas for prospecting. But much of the best ground is privately owned, purchased from the former Algoma Central Railway who were granted mineral rights a century ago.

The biggest focus of exploration is for iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) mineralization from Batchawana Bay to Wakamota Lake, north of Thessalon on Highway 129.

"This is very favourable ground," says Hailstone. "But much of it is in the hands of private individuals," including groups like the Algoma Timberlakes Corporation.

Still, companies have been staking...