Issue link: http://resourceworld.uberflip.com/i/460990
8 www.resourceworld.com F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 0 1 5 I f one checks out the British Columbia gov- ernment's Minfile website of present and past-producing mines, developed pros- pects and mineral showings, the total comes to 13,915 entries. One would think with all these known mineral occurances, there would be mines all over the place, yet in this mineral-rich Canadian province, there are only about 50 mines in operation, including industrial minerals and another 30 projects in the permitting process. Even so, gross mining revenues for 2013 totaled $8.5 bil- lion, underscoring the wealth that mining generates. However, the point is that BC is a typical example of how truly hard it is to discover an economically viable mineral deposit. While Mother Nature has endowed the Earth with countless mineral showings worth investigating, viable deposits are actually rare geological phenomena. The Canadian exploration industry has a his- tory of most new discoveries being made by junior companies that need to raise risk capital to finance their expensive explora- tion programs as the vast majority of them don't have any revenue. While many exploration programs don't live up to expectations, some do succeed and reward the company's shareholders. A mineral discovery doesn't have to be brand new; sometimes junior explorers can discover more ore at old past-produc- ing mines that have shut down for various reasons. Although there are other compa- nies with exploration successes out there, we have assembled 10 that have reported impressive results. PRETIUM RESOURCES INC. [PVG-TSX, NYSE] Pretium Resources Inc. has reported some truly spectacular gold assays from its 100%-owned Brucejack Project located approximately 65 km north of Stewart in northwestern British Columbia. Hole VU-365 intersected 328.91 g/t gold uncut over 20.50 metres, including 13,400 g/t gold uncut over 0.50 metres. However, this was not a one-hole wonder. Dozens of drill holes returned exceptional gold assays with significant silver credits. Work is focused on the Valley of the Kings area, which is comprised of high- grade visible gold stringers within a lower 10 companies enjoying success in the risky exploration business by Ellsworth Dickson Great Mineral Discoveries