EXPLORATION ’87 BP-SELCO

Selco, the mining and minerals division of bp Canada, maintains an aggressive grassroots exploration program across Canada. Under the direction of Dr Christopher Jennings, vice-president exploration and business development, the division employs 43 people including 29 geoscientists. The programs are administered from two main offices, Toronto and Vancouver, where the exploration managers are William Anderson and C. D. Bates, respectively. Field offices are considered very important and staff are also based in Winnipeg, Man., Thunder Bay, Ont., Kirkland Lake, Ont., Halifax, N.S., and Corner Brook, Nfld.

For 1987 the division is forecasting a gross grassroots budget of about $8 million. In addition, the division looks after about $1 million of surface exploration at Selbaie Mines and manages a $1.5-million exploration program at Chetwynd, Nfld., for Hope Brook Gold.

Commodities or targets being sought include gold, platinum, polymetallic massive sulphide deposits and diamonds. The company is also very interested in opportunities for such industrial minerals and strategic metals as cobalt and chromium.

A significant proportion of Selco’s program is directed at Newfoundland. This reflects the recent success of Hope Brook, now under development, and the purchase in late 1985 of the mineral lands of Abitibi-Price Inc. Several interesting gold prospects are under investigation and major drilling and field programs are planned for 1987. Joint venture partners on some of these projects include: The Northair Group; Canacord Resources; and Noranda Exploration.

In the Canadian Shield, with the exception of Selbaie Mines, the emphasis continues to be on gold, platinum and diamonds. Selco has a number of projects across the Shield, ranging from reconnaissance sampling to diamond drilling. At Selbaie, which recently expanded the operation to include the open pit A-1 zone, the exploration priority will be copper- gold targets in the vicinity of the B-zone. In addition the mine is now conducting an underground evaluation of the A-2 zone.

Activities in western Canada will focus on precious metals and poly- metallic deposits. Drilling is planned for properties near Greenwood, Barriere Lakes, Kitimat and Harrison.

Notwithstanding the strong grassroots programs generated internally, Selco actively solicits property submittals. These opportunities can range from raw prospects to pre- development properties. The division has a mandate to pursue new opportunities and has the engineering capabilities coupled with strong financial backing to see a project through to start-up.