Uneven ground.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: MINING

A Thunder Bay drilling company boss said exploration work is drying up in Northern Ontario and she's finding greener pastures in the Caribbean.

Barb Courte, president of Cobra Drilling and North Star Drilling, is dispatching four drills to the Dominican Republic this fall for a project with Unigold, a Canadian junior company.

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"I'm getting calls from other companies in the Dominican to do more work."

While 2012 has been a solid year for her two companies, she has major trepidations for what lies ahead.

"I think we're going to have 'a very hard year ahead of us."

A tepid investors' market means exploration budgets for junior miners' drilling programs are being slashed or the companies aren't doing anything.

"If they have any money, if they were going to do a 5,000-metre contract, they're doing a 1,500-metre."

And it's across the board for all commodities, gold included, she said. "Everybody's holding onto their money"

She estimates her activity is off 50 per cent.

While there's optimism across the northwest with the possibility of as many as 13 new mines coming online over the next five years, money for exploration at the grassroots level is scarce for junior miners.

Courte said it's a money-losing proposition for her to operate in Ontario.

"We're drilling for almost nothing. I keep telling my employees we're taking small jobs for the next few weeks.

The Ministry of Northern Development and Mines expects six mines to reopen this year with eight expected to open in the next decade.

In exploration, about $208 million was spent in 2011 with the ministry forecasting a drop to $84 million by the end of 2012.

She isn't buying any rosy projections until she sees the juniors start spending again.

Courte has eight drill rigs in the northwest, but has no idea if they'll be turning in the new year.

"I don't know if it will be busy. I really don't have anything booked for January

"I have three working in Dubreuilville (for Prodigy Gold). When that finishes, I don't know what's in store."

At her peak in 2011, Courte employed 70, but with layoffs, is down to 30 employees for both companies. About one third are Aboriginals who started as helpers and moved into supervisory positions.

Although some companies and the province laud Ontario as being one of the best mining-friendly jurisdictions in the world, Courte said that perception has changed.

In conversation with her industry colleagues, Ontario is considered a "risk area" for...