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Junior Companies Poised for Success in Canada’s Pacific Gateway

By Melissa Pistilli, Resourcex.com

In 2006, junior resource companies spent a record-breaking estimated $265 million on exploration in British Columbia. Natural Resources Canada reported the 22% increase from 2005 in its Overview of Trends in Canadian Mineral Exploration report, an annual overview of mineral exploration published by the government of Canada.

The rising boom in mineral commodity prices over the last four years and the low supply of above-ground resources have been the driving forces behind increased exploration spending. Gold, zinc, copper, molybdenum and coal make up 90% of the production value and exploration spending in B.C. Since 2001, each resource has seen its prices more than double. Copper is up 400%; moly has gained approximately 1000%.

These substantial increases are a direct indicator of the powerful force China and other Pacific Rim market demands have on mineral commodity prices. And, with positive trade relations already in place, B.C.’s junior resource projects stand to benefit immensely from the province’s future as a preferred supplier to more than half the world’s population. Add B.C.’s favorable regulatory regime and economic incentives, mineral-rich landscape, and strategic location into the mix and you have the makings of a robust mineral export economy.

Improved access to financing, stimulated by investor reactions to rising commodity prices, has allowed junior companies to acquire and advance exploration projects. Michael Labach, Investor Relations Manager for Eagle Plains Resources [EPL: TSX.V], believes this to be a major contributing factor to the rapid escalation of exploration expenditures in British Columbia.

In reaction to the depressed resource economy in the late 1990s, many companies were leaving B.C. But, Eagle Plains (EPL) was determined to stick it out. “We made hay while the sun was shining on us,” said Labach, “and it wasn’t very sunny for most people.” Since then, EPL has been aggressively acquiring and developing early-stage exploration projects in Western Canada. Currently, the company operates over 35 (19 in B.C.) gold, silver, uranium, base-metal and rare earth mineral projects.

The company’s most promising project, the Sphinx, is located in southern B.C. Last May, EPL submitted a 43-101 technical report detailing an Inferred Resource of 62,005,615 tonnes grading .035% Mo. representing 47,884,630 lbs of contained molybdenum metal. The resource estimate is based on 14 holes drilled in 2005 and incorporates data from 10 holes drilled in 1980 and 1997 by past operators. Drill holes from the 2006 program have yet to be incorporated into the inferred resource calculation. On Tuesday, EPL announced that the Phase 1, 2500m diamond drilling program on the Sphinx property is expected to begin in one week.

EPL is a great example of what the authors of Natural Resource Canada’s Overview of Trends calls a “real mine finder.” The company, a self-proclaimed “project generator,” utilizes a joint venture model approach to finance exploration work. Once projects are advanced to an inferred or indicated resource level, EPL invites larger producing companies to acquire the property through option agreements. Presently, exploration work (over $13.5 million) on four EPL properties is advancing under this model.

The company’s most recent example of this approach is northwestern B.C.’s Copper Canyon property. NovaGold [NG: TSX] has an option agreement with EPL to possibly earn a 60% interest providing they meet a certain set of criteria: financing $3 million in exploration costs, transferring 296,000 shares to EPL over four installments and a payment of $250,000.

Agreements like these help EPL and its investors regain their acquisition costs, finance and expedite further exploration work, and divest the financial risks that could ruin a smaller company. EPL also earns shares in the larger partner companies which have the potential to pay off nicely once the project is brought into production.

Along with improved access to financing, Salina Landstad, head of Corporate Communications at Redcorp Ventures [RDV: TSX], says other factors contributing to BC's successful rebound are “changes to provincial government policies” that have made the environmental assessment and permitting process “more responsive and less prescriptive while still maintaining the necessary requirements for stringent standards and environmental protection safeguards.” These changes, says Landstad, are the result of the public and environmental regulators’ acknowledgment of the mining industry’s economic role in sustaining rural communities.

Redcorp Venture’s Tulsequah Chief Project, one of the company’s two B.C. properties, is moving steadily towards first production. Project development preparations are currently proceeding and Redcorp will soon “finalize discussions with detailed engineering and procurement contractors as well as construction management contractors,” says Landstad

Expenditures totaling over $36 million have brought the zinc-copper-gold-silver project to the mine development approval stage. Redcorp completed the environmental assessment and gained BC provincial project approval in December 2002. And in July of 2005, federal screening approval for the development was completed.

In January of this year, Redcorp released an Independent Feasibility Study verifying the viability of the Tulsequah Chief Project. The most important aspect of the study was the effectiveness of an Air Cushion Barge and an Amphitrac (tug) to transport supplies to the mine site and to haul concentrate out. The isolated location of the project made it necessary to devise an effective materials transportation method. The Air Cushion Barge, says Redcorp, is an economical, environmentally sensitive, and effective alternative to the construction of an all-weather, maintenance intensive access road.

Since the release of the Feasibility Study, Redcorp has increased the Tulsequah Chief’s deposit base to an NI 43-101 compliant 5,938,800 tonnes indicated (1.44% Cu, 1.24% Pb, 6.52% Zn, 2.66 g/t Au, 96.7 g/t Ag) and 1,048,800 tonnes inferred (0.97% Cu, 0.95% Pb, 5.14% Zn, 1.67g/t Au, 72.5 g/t Ag) resource estimate.

Landstad says Redcorp is “very excited about the additional resources as it demonstrates the potential to increase the currently-projected 8-year mine life.” The company is looking forward to expanding the resource base further now that newly-completed resource estimates on its neighboring Big Bull deposit show significant promise.

Both Eagle Plains and Redcorp Ventures have projects listed in Natural Resource Canada’s annual Canadian Mineral Exploration report under the sixty most advanced projects in B.C. Redcorp’s Tulsequah Chief project is in the top 30.

Melissa Pistilli is a contributing writer with the Resourcex Investor, an internationally distributed newsletter specializing in identifying as-yet undiscovered resource companies representing the best in their class. For more information, visit the website www.resourcexinvestor.com.

About the Author

Melissa Pistilli is a contributing writer with the Resourcex Investor, an internationally distributed newsletter specializing in identifying as-yet undiscovered resource companies representing the best in their class. For more information, visit the website www.resourcexinvestor.com.

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