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Weekly UpdatesPatrick Soares believes there is strength in numbers.
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The president of Brett Resources along with Atikokan Mayor Dennis Brown and First Nation Treaty 3 communities, know the best way to turn a high grade gold resources into a reserve is to present a common front to the government.
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"We all have the same mission in mind, whether it be Dennis Brown, Brett Resources, the forestry companies or Treaty 3 Communities, which it to see the area grow," said Soares, sitting on a 4.8 million ounce gold resource 23 kilometres northeast of Atikokan.
"Economic development is the name of the game and the general feeling is that we should be looking (at the project) as a team and approaching the government as one unit to develop the area."
Brown is hopeful it will advance into a full scale open pit mine before too long.
"This would be a great boost to the economy," Brown said, affirming that the Minister of Northern Development and Mines, Mike Gravelle, is well aware the community will do everything in its power to bring this project to fruition.
The property first became active in the late 1800s pulling at least 2,000 ounces of gold from the jackpot, Soares said.
In the 1980s, Falconbridge Ltd. drilled 68 holes in the area before selling it to Kinross Gold Corp. They, under junior miner Pentland Firth, explored the northeast portion on Mitta Lake, drilling 16 more holes on the property and coming up with low grade gold assays. At that time gold was selling for (US) $250. Realizing the market was too soft, Pentland Firth folded back into Kinross.
It wasn't until 2006 when company officials opened the file again: Carl Hering, a director for Kinross's exploration team, and also the president of Brett Resources at the time spoke with Brett's board of governor's chair Ron Netolitzky to acquire a 60 per cent interest in the Hammond Reef property after investing US $5 million.
"There was a good relationship there. The combination of having Ron and Carl on the same team (made it easy) to offer the deposit to Brett."
Drilling began almost immediately exploring the south end of Mitta Lake a bit more and found large low grade gold showings only 200 metres below surface.
"We were really excited about that," Soares said.
In 2008, the company acquired 100 percent ownership of the Hammond Reef property which now covers 9,145 hectares. In three years, Brett has spent $11 million developing the resource and now has plans for an eight-month scoping study starting this summer with funds raised from a $10 million tendered offer in late May early June.
"We had done a lot of work on this. We were not going to stop on account of a market going bad on us, we had to continue doing our work."
The study will identify environmental challenges, community consultation including First Nation memoranda of understandings and energy issues.
From Soares' perspective, energy should not be an issue since Atikokan's coal-fired station is one of the key energy contributors to the province. It is now testing new forms of energy burning carbon friendly material for future use. Numerous dams around the town also could provide the energy capacity so long as the infrastructure and dollars are in place, Soares said.
In the meantime, a February drill will be active on the property to further identify some targeted areas.
Soares is a geologist by profession and has worked at Lupin Mine in the Northwest Territories, several Cominco Mines and with Sutton Resources before Kinross took them over.
Brett Resources Board of Governors consist of geologist Ron Netolitzky, still chair, lawyer Steve Cook, engineer and mineral processor Maruice Tagami and Carl Hering, Brett's former president.
Brett Resources Inc.
Patrick Soares, President and CEO
TSX Venture Exchange: BBR
52 week high: 1.60
52 week low: 0.43
Active spots:
Hammond Reef
JC Deposit
www.brettresources.com
BY KELLY LOIUSEIZE
Northern Ontario Business
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