Gold drives exploration, development frenzy: Lake Shore Gold, Detour gold lead the charge.

• Author: Stewart, Nick
• Position: TIMMINS

Exploration activity in the Timmins camp is reaching levels on par with 2008 as commodity prices continue to hit new highs. It's bringing back mining players both new and old to the world-famous camp.

More than 30 companies are currently working away in the Timmins area, with roughly 120 operating throughout the larger district, lured by what lies beneath the northeastern Ontario rock.

"All the companies are able to raise money because of the price of gold and other commodities, so that's really a driving force for a lot of the exploration, and we're seeing a return to high levels," said Brian Atkinson, the Ontario Geological Survey's resident regional geologist for the Timmins district.

"We're now back to those pre-recession levels as far as exploration goes. There's a number of major projects underway that are being developed now that are going to lead to mining."

In keeping with Timmins' century of gold-mining success, the area is a lightning rod for interest in the precious metal, with numbers growing rapidly as the price of the commodity rises.

This includes some growing interest from the likes of Gowest Amalgamated, which recently raised $2.5 million to fund exploration and development on its Frankfield Gold project, west of the city. Similarly, Melkior Resources continues to drill off its Carscallen Project, also to the west, and which shares nine kilometres of common boundaries with Lake Shore Gold Corp.

The latter marks one of the region's many success stories, with Lake Shore Gold having declared commercial production at its flagship Timmins Mine in early January. The company continues to work towards bringing its other nearby deposits into production, and a flurry of updates slated for the coming year are expected to triple resources.

Slightly more distant projects are also powering up the local camp, particularly Detour Gold's efforts in Detour Lake, 180 kilometres northeast of Cochrane, where infrastructure construction is now underway on a $1.2-billion mining project.

The 1,000-person camp is due to be complete by April as site excavation continues in anticipation of the first concrete pour, which is slated to occur this spring. Steel erection will continue through the bulk of the year, followed by the enclosure for the process plant.

"That highway between Cochrane and the mine is going to be a busy piece of road," said Robert Calhoun, project manager of Discover Abitibi.

This is expected to become operational in 2013, and is...