Kapuskasing Mayor Alan Spacek only had to stroll through the Prospectors and Developers trade show in Toronto this spring to gauge the level of exploration interest in his corner of Ontario's Clay Belt.
When he was prowling through the hospitality suites, shaking hands and promoting the town of 8,500 for mineral development, one gentleman knew all about the area's mineral potential.
Prospectors being prospectors, he wouldn't say much, though he did divulge there was plenty of activity north of town. "That was all I could get out of him," says Spacek.
Even if those in the know are saying little, 'Kap' residents know something is up.
There's exploration equipment moving on local roads this spring and the sight of a helicopter making aerial sweeps while towing a hoopla hoop-shaped electromagnetic surveying device made news in the local paper.
Because of its thick clay overburden, mining companies have traditionally shunned Kapuskasing. But today's high-tech prospecting methods can see through several metres of cover.
One junior north of Hearst is steadily advancing a high grade phosphate deposit toward production. At Martison Lake, PhosCan Chemical Corp. plans to install a slurry pipeline leading from a mine site to an acid plant close to the railway line at Hearst.
The combination of heightened exploration activity, increased demand in Western Canada for fertilizer geared to the global food demand and the frequent forestry mill shutdowns has other neighbouring Highway 11 communities eager to jump on the industrial minerals bandwagon.
Fully developing that mineral potential has been on Spacek's mind for some time.
Kapuskasing has been a pulp and paper, and lumber town for generations. But a decade ago, fertilizer giant Agrium started up production at its open pit phosphate mine, 40 kilometres south of town in Cargill Township.
It's considered one of the highest grade phosphate deposits in the world and Agrium may be expanding the operation soon.
So there must be more discoveries right?
Community leaders believe so and kicked off the Kapuskasing Industrial Minerals Project last winter. The municipality has invested $25,000 for a two-stage process but other communities and government are expected to contribute.
It's a start-to-finish project involving everyone from the explorationist to the product end-user.
The study area encompasses a huge swath of northeastern Ontario from a spot just west of Hearst to the Quebec border, and as far north as Fraserdale, down south to Gowganda, including the Tri-Towns.
"I don't think there's a line in the sand between ourselves and Timmins," says Spacek. With De Beers now mining diamonds in the James Bay Lowlands to the north and the Timmins gold camp to the south, "we're sandwiched in between."
The project lead is Robert Calhoun, manager of Discover Abitibi Geoscience Project, a regional exploration campaign focussed on finding new mineral deposits in the Timmins and Kirkland Lake corridor.
The Kapuskasing concept is slightly different. The two-stage process will compile and catalogue all the known deposits, then identify product markets for interested companies.
Besides searching for phosphate, other commodities will include clay, slate, soapstone and silica sand.
Agrium strips off and dumps enormous amounts of clay overburden to mine phosphate. By lab testing different types of clay for strength, it might of interest to brick manufacturers facing depleting resources in southern Ontario.
Slate is used for dimension stone or crushed for landscaping, walkways or indoor tiles as a light-weight aggregate.
Silica can be used in photovoltaic solar panels or mixed with other stone for countertops.
"Dimension stone from Italy and Sicily is shipped all over the world because it is a nice looking stone," Calhoun says.
The trick is doing the advance work for exploration companies and later market the various colours, grains and textures to home improvement retailers.
