Commodity Demands Send Exploration Around the World: Technical Session-International Exploration Successes

By Jack H. Seto
Mineral Exploration Roundup 2011 Blogger

The boom for commodities, especially in the resource sector, is increasingly putting pressure on suppliers to keep up with the demand. The demand for commodities is primarily driven from three places. The first is from the growing economies of the B.R.I.C. countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China). The second is from supply replacement required by normal present consumption by all nations. Finally, the third is from mine depletion of current operating mines.

Exploration for resources is no longer confined to local jurisdictions. As a result, Canadian junior mining companies are forced to seek opportunities further and further out looking in places like Mexico, Colombia and Africa.

Most of these companies, like Creston Moly Corp in Mexico and Anglo American in Chile, have a good history of exploration data on their respective properties. Work done on their properties from previous companies and prospectors date back to the early 1900s.

In Africa companies like Hana Mining and Rockgate Capital Corp have excellent deposits with the significant metals being copper, uranium, silver and gold. Gryphon Minerals has a property located in a region where companies like Rangold have operations with million-ounce-plus gold deposits. Gryphon Minerals has a current asset of over 1.5 million ounces gold on their property and with $40 million in the bank they hope to improve their numbers.

Kinross Gold's Tasiast Gold Deposit located in Maritania, West Africa was acquired from Canadian junior Red Back Mining in 2010. They are looking to improve on their asset with a busy drilling program this coming year.

With the increasing demands for resource commodities in the future it appears Canadian junior mining companies will be leading the way for future international mining  discoveries.