Nova Scotia meeting focuses on gold potential

Bolstered by a rising gold price and a flurry of recent property deals, Nova Scotia’s gold exploration potential was featured at the Mining Society of Nova Scotia’s 116th annual meeting June 5-6.

“This is the first time the focus was completely on gold,” said George Sigut, secretary-treasurer of the Society. “I think it shows there’s something really happening here.”

Two weeks earlier, Australian exploration company Diamond Ventures entered into an agreement to earn up to a 75% interest in the Touquoy gold project in Nova Scotia by spending $2.2 million on exploration before the end of 2005, making cash payments of up to $240,000 and securing project financing.

The day the meeting began, Acadian Gold (AGY-V) began a 5,000-metre drill program on the Forest Hill property. Earlier this year, Acadian paid $3 million for interests in six Nova Scotia gold properties, including Forest Hill and Beaver Dam. The two properties were previously explored by Seabright Resources and WMC Corp.

And the day after the meeting ended, Azure Resources (AZR-V) was scheduled to make the first blast to collar a portal on its Mooseland gold project.

About 120 people attended the meeting, which was held at the Liscombe Lodge in Guysborough Cty., where most of Nova Scotia’s 1.2 million oz. of recorded gold production originated. The Mining Society, the oldest professional mining association in Canada, traces its origins to the Gold Miners Club, formed in Halifax in 1887.

Bruce Hudgins, president of the private company that optioned the Touquoy project to Diamond Ventures, and Will Felderhof, president of Acadian Gold, were two of the key speakers at the meeting. Azure’s Mooseland project and Scorpio Mining‘s (SPM-V) Cochrane Hill project were also featured in separate presentations.

John Culijak of Halifax-based Metals Economics Group spoke on trends in gold exploration, and several geologists with the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources provided technical background on the province’s gold potential.

Sonja Felderhof of the Toronto law firm Aird & Berlis reviewed the international mineral resource and mineral reserve classification and reporting system, and Joyce Hoeven of Ernst & Young spoke on taxation and the gold industry.

David Dingwall, president of the Royal Canadian Mint, was the keynote speaker at the Awards Dinner.

Society President Alan Davidson, who acted as chairman of the program, welcomed incoming president, Sam Schwartz, for the 2003-2004 term as the annual meeting came to a close.

— The author is a former editor of The Northern Miner and The Northern Miner Magazine. He is currently a director of Acadian Gold.