Bull Market Encourages Revisiting Old Properties

Some were deemed subeconomic, others were mined and left fallow. Old properties and mines, though, are coming back into fashion in the gold-exploration world: the reason is higher prices. That's according to a report on the Northeastern Ontario Mines and Minerals Symposium webbed by the Sault Ste. Marie Star.

"Exploration activity is picking up on the strength of rising commodity prices," said Delio Tortosa, president of the Sault & District Prospectors Association, during a break Wednesday at the two-day Northeastern Ontario Mines and Minerals Symposium at the Delta Waterfront Hotel.

"Old properties once thought no longer feasible to work are being revisited and reassessed. . . . . Rising prices are changing the economics of deposits."

In the not-too-distant past, area mining was contained to narrow, high-grade, easily-accessible deposits and now developers are looking for larger, perhaps lower-grade sources, often overlooked in the past, that can provide long-term opportunity....

There was a company, Royal Oak, that specialized in reclaiming exhausted mines in the 1990s. Back then, its hook was better technology. The company went bankrupt in 1999, putting a damper on exploration projects of that sort for years. Now, though, reclaiming mines seems to be coming back into fashion. This time, a higher gold price is the driver.