Expanded Drill Core Collection Program for Labrador

Natural Resources Minister Ed Byrne today announced additional details on the Drill Core Collection Program for Labrador that will gather existing material left in the field and make it available to the larger exploration community to assist companies and individual geologists to identify areas of interest.

Budget 2006 contained $107,000 to fund the Drill Core Collection Program, which will enable the department to access remote areas and collect existing representative drill core samples for the Core Storage Library in Happy Valley-Goose Bay for future use by the exploration community.

"Labrador�s core sample program allows the exploration community to look at rock samples without having to go to the expense of flying to a remote location," Minister Byrne said. "You can go to the Core Storage Library and look at fresh rock samples from high mineral potential areas. A core examination program is a cost-effective first step in doing preliminary exploration work prior to more detailed field work."

The province has been collecting core samples from different sites around the province since 1978, however, the challenges and expense of collecting samples from any remote site, including Labrador, requires a concentrated effort and expenditure.

"Core samples are the useful end products of mineral exploration and they represent tens of millions of dollars worth of private investment," Minister Byrne said. "Public access to existing drill core samples provide timely geo-scientific information and is critical to the promotion of, and investment in, mineral exploration."

Paul Shelley, Minister responsible for Labrador Affairs, said mining and mineral exploration is unquestionably important to the Labrador economy. "Labrador has significant mining and quarrying activity at Labrador City, Wabush, Voisey�s Bay, Ten Mile Bay and elsewhere. The potential for further discoveries and developments remains significant," the minister said. "Initiatives such as the Drill Core Collection Program demonstrate government�s commitment to build on Labrador�s strengths for the benefit of all Labradorians."

The province operates six core storage libraries, which house in excess of one million metres of drill core. This core sample collection is used extensively by mineral exploration geologists, prospectors and by government and university geoscientists in the search for new ore bodies. This research leads to a better understanding of the geology and mineral potential of province.

This summer, staff of the Department of Natural Resources will visit between 10 and 15 field drill core storage sites from Nain to Okak Bay. Representative drill core samples from each site will be taken to Nain and then on to Happy Valley-Goose Bay. The core sample collection will be organized, catalogued and listed on the department�s drill core database.

The Labrador nickel exploration rush in the 1990s generated over 470,000 metres of diamond drill activity. It was conducted across a large area - from south-west of Nain and Voisey�s Bay, to Okak Bay approximately 150 kilometres north of the main Voisey�s Bay discovery zone. Drill core samples resulting from this activity are located at field storage sites and former mineral exploration base camps.

"The drill core program is a critical part of this government�s strategy to encourage new exploration," said Minister Byrne. "The renewed interest in uranium exploration in Labrador is assisted tremendously by having ready access to existing drill core from past uranium exploration programs."

An index of the drill core database can be activated and searched online using the Geoscience Resources Atlas at //gis.geosurv.gov.nf.ca/

Media contact: Tracy Barron, Communications, (709) 729-5282, 690-6157

2006 05 10                          10:15 a.m.