Page 8 By Gregory Reynolds The T immins Mining District continues to be the hottest area for ex ploration in the Province of Ontario That is the conclusion reached in the 2018 Report of Activities in 2017 Resident Geologist Program T im mins Regional Resident Geologist Report Ontario Geological Survey Open File Report 6339 The T immins Mining District had at least 44 companies continuing to ex plore on 63 projects for a wide variety of meta ls and minerals of which gold remains the most sought after com modity in the district The T immins District had 9 produc ing gold mines 1 base metal mine 1 industrial mineral producer and 1 dia mond mine Increased investment in gold proper ties and exploration eforts coincided with the contin ued rally in gold price during 2017 from approximately US1 150 at the start of 2017 to more than US1300 in most of the 4th quar ter The total number of claim units re corded in 2017 was essentially the same as in 2016 supporting the idea that a turnaround in the exploration industry has begun The number of active claim units declined negligibly 39 in 2017 from 2016 Assessment work fled in the T immins District in 2017 totalled 28177358 and was nearly 50 higher than it was in 2016 This expenditure accounts for 39 of all assessment work fled in the Province of Ontario and was the high est of all Mining Divisions in Ontario in 2017 A continued increase in stak ing acti vity and increase in the assess ment work expenditures are interpret ed to indicate that a strong interest in acquiring and maintaining land posi tions continues in the T imm ins Dis trict Recent minera l discoveries known mineralized showings as well as for mer and operating mines again at tracted signifcant exploratio n invest ment and efort during 2017 The most advanced exploratio n eforts involved the driving of ramps into the Bradshaw gold deposit T ully T ownship and Borden Lake deposit Borden T ownship by Gow est Gold Ltd and Goldcorp Inc re spectively Gowest has encountered mineraliza tion and is stockpiling materia l for up grading through an onsite ore sorter before milling and selling the concen trate On April 16 Gowest announced as it reviews and evaluates its op tions for processing ore from its Bulk Sample and given the uncertainty of the timing surrounding the processing of the Bulk Sample and the fact that there is no further capacity at the mine site to store any further under ground mined material the company has de termined to suspend current mining operations but only to the extent that will ensure there will be no delay in the renewal of the development of the mine when conditions warrant Goldcorp conducted a major explora tion drilling program in 2017 on its Century open pit area on the Dome Mine property that saw the conver sion of the Inaugural resource into a Reserve of 57 M ounces of gold includes 1 M ounces in the Pamour Pit A defnition drilling program of more than 40000 m in 2018 is designed to convert an additional 1 M ounces of Century Pit Inferred Resources to Re serves The base case prefeasibility study is expected to be completed in the second half of 2018 and will be followed by the completion of a fea sibility study in 2019 Goldcorp Inc has ramped up its ex ploration of the Hoyle Pond Deep Zone now that the interna l winze has been completed The com pany also continued exploring for T imiskaminghosted gold mineralization on its claims between Chapleau and Foleyet as well as test ing other tar gets in the Porcupine Camp T ahoe Resources Inc contin ued ex ploration and defnition drilli ng on a number of zones in and near the T im mins W est and Bell Creek Mines as well as on the Whitney project for mer Hallnor gold mine IAMGOLD Corporation has begun a delineation diamonddrilli ng pro gram in order to upgrade its near surface Inferred Resources to the In dicated category and obtain a better understanding of its 59 M ounces of gold reserves as part of the feasi bility study begun in the third quarter of 2017 Metallur gical testing by Zenyatta V entures Ltd on the highpurity Al bany graphite deposit at Pitopiko River near Hearst continued through 2017 and demonstrated that simple mechanical processes such as exfolia tion can readily convert their graphite into graphene a much sought after product The company is now focused on developing a vertically integrated delivery system