Higher spending in Quebec

Total exploration and appraisal spending in Quebec in 2001 increased by 15% to reach $119 million in 2001 (this includes $73.7 million in off-minesite spending and $45.2 million in minesite spending), according to preliminary data.

These numbers indicate a significant shift from the downward trend established over the past three years, when exploration and appraisal spending in the province fell steadily after peaking at $173.3 million in 1997.

The recent improvement in the exploration situation in Quebec is in stark contrast with the state of mining jurisdictions around the world. Metals Economics Group (MEG) reports that worldwide exploration budgets have decreased 15% to US$2.2 billion in 2001, a cumulative drop of 58% from the US$5.2 billion reached in 1997. At $119 million (US$77 million), Quebec ranks eighth in the world.

The appearance of several new target areas for diamonds, namely in the James Bay and Otish Mountains regions, has resulted in the staking of new claims over vast areas. By November of last year, 38,588 active claims had been acquired through map designation (now the principal means of acquisition for exploration titles). This number is more than double the number of claims staked and recorded annually between 1991 and 2000. The total number of active exploration titles in Quebec rose to 99,509 in late November 2001 from 87,165 at the beginning of the year, an increase of about 14%.

The most advanced exploration work for diamonds was carried out in the Torngat Mountains, where Twin Mining completed a 342-tonne bulk sample at the AD2 site and collected 50-kg samples spaced every 400 metres along a 37-km kimberlite dyke. To date, 1,548 diamonds have been recovered, of which three are 4-5 mm in one dimension, and 125 are between 2 mm and 3 mm. The largest diamonds range between 0.199 and 0.685 carat. Among the roughly 15 companies active in the area, Tandem Resources and Diamond Discoveries are the only ones to have discovered diamonds and rubies.

Northwest of the Otish Mountains area, Ashton Mining and Quebec government-owned Soquem intersected diamond-bearing kimberlites on two targets spaced about 1 km apart. Twenty-nine macrodiamonds were recovered from a 163-kg drillcore sample.

— The preceding is from Exploration and Development Highlights 2002, published by the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada. The author is an exploration analyst with Quebec’s Ministry of Natural Resources.