Page 50 B y K e vin V inc ent A s C anadians c on tinue t o bask in their newf ound fr eedom t o smoke mar ijuana and c onsume a pletho r a of cannabis pr oduc ts another g r een in v estmen t goldrush is qui etly tak ing plac e acr oss nor th w est er n On tar io M ake no mistake about it cannabis and the C anadian mining industr y ar e ine x tr icably r ela t ed T he ar ea nor th of the Gr ea t Lakes c ommonly r ef er r ed t o as nor th w est er n On tar io has emer ged fr om the smokey w or ld of r ec en t cannabis in v esting as the new dar ling of mining en thusiasts H ighr etur n in v est ors appear t o ha v e e xhaust ed their appetit e f or canna bis and ar e r edir ec ting their a tt en Where the East me ets the W est N or th w est ern O n tario tion back t o C anada s sear ch f or min er als and metals A nd t o tha t end majors juniors e x plor a tionists geolog ists and pr os pec t ors ar e spending a lot of time in the nor th w est with good r eason A c c or ding t o the P r ojec t M anager of M ining S er vic es f or the T hunder Ba y C ommunit y E c onomic D ev elopmen t C or por a tion John M ason the r eg ion is in the middle of a per f ec t st or m W e ar e seeing pla y ers fr om A ustr a lia S outh A fr ica and other ma tur e mining jur isdic tions suddenly pour ing in t o nor th w est er n On tar io said M ason T he list is impr essiv e I t includes Bar r ick G old which has just appr o v ed a sig nifcan t change a t the Hemlo M ine e xpec t ed t o e x t end tha t pr op with ha ving our w agon hit ched t o pr ecious metals like palladium and gold tha t w on t c ome as a sur pr ise t o an y one ar e doing v er y w ell said M ason in an in t er view with M ining Lif e He sa y s C anada c on tinues t o be a str ong jur isdic tion f or pr ecious met als and in v est ors ar e c onstan tly look ing f or w or ld class deposits G old and palladium c on tinue t o pr o vide str ong inc en tiv es f or domestic c ompanies as w ell M ason e xpec ts the nor th w est t o see another t w o or thr ee gold mines ac c eler a t e in t o pr oduc tion in the ne x t 35 y ears a much shor t er time hor iz on than his t or ically has been the case W hether it s a c ompan y c oming in fr om another jur isdic tion or an e x isting c ompan y tr ying t o get t o the Page 50 C anada s ne w est mining pla y gr ound er t y s pr oduc tion hor iz on or the ac quisition of the New mon t f or mer ly G oldc or p R ed Lake pr oper ties b y E v o lution M ining of A ustr alia or the billion dollar deal tha t sa w I mpala P la tinum Hold ings Limit ed ac quir e Nor th A mer ican P alladium T he other sig nifcan t tr end of c ourse is w e ar e blessed