Prospecting outside the box.

It took the unconventional thinking of a junior mining company to overlook camp bias and discover what many major mining houses missed near Timmins.

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About 20 kilometres west of Timmins on Hwy. 101 rests the Timmins Gold Property (TGP).

It took Noranda, Chevron, and even St. Andrew Goldfields almost 100 years to define 224,000 ounces of gold. It took Lake Shore Gold Corp. 18 months to triple that figure.

Earlier this year, Lake Shore acquired all the issued shares of Holmer Gold Mines Ltd. and now holds 100 per cent mineral rights to the TGP, formerly known as the Holmer Gold Property.

The discovery has created a buzz around the Timmins Gold Camp. Prospectors can no longer pick up a claim in the west end, and Lake Shore is getting calls from the big boys interested in finding out what they have missed.

"They won't come out and tell you that, though," Michael J. Byron, vice-president of Lake Shore exploration, says.

But the mere fact junior and senior mining houses are knocking on his door is testament to the success Lake Shore has achieved.

The TGP was discovered by a couple of local prospectors in 1911 after a surface showing indicated 0.5-2 grams per tonne gold. Back then, drilling was time-consuming and expensive, so the property languished for a while, changing from prospector hands to those of major mining companies. None of them did the obvious, which was to gather the database of information, put it into a modern platform and view it through computerized technology.

Lake Shore officials did.

They followed it down plunge and came up with an indicating mineral resource of 724,000 ounces of gold uncut. "Holmer is almost a half-ounce (per tonne) grade deposit," says Lake Shore president and CEO Brian R. Booth. "That sits head and shoulders above most deposits, except for Goldcorp Inc. At a half ounce it would survive a low gold price."

Byron likens the company's plan to the role of a quarterback. He will throw to where the player is running, not where he is. The exploration team did not follow where the mineralization lies, rather, they anticipated where it is going.

But the real jewelry box is not revealed until one passes 250-metre depths where results indicate a 25-metre intersection bearing 13 to 14 grams of gold per tonne. With the current drilling program, Booth is confident the results will reflect a positive economic position, allowing the company to push the pre-feasibility study forward to identify the parameters of mine development.

"We want to take the property to the next level," Booth says, "but we need to build ounces."

They also want to build ounces at their partnering DeSantis Gold Property with Explorers Alliance Corp. Recently, Lake Shore signed an agreement that could allow them to earn up to 70 per cent interest on the next "pearl" property.

Noranda and Stan West reported resource estimates accessible by underground workings to be 129,000 tonnes, at 7.51 grams per tonne gold back in the 1930s and 1940s. Byron says it has similar characteristics to TGP, therefore, the same strategies will be applied. A development program taken from a large information database will be introduced, that will allow test targets to be drilled this year.

"People at one point believed there was nothing in the west end ... nothing in the west end, until someone found something," Byron says.

Both Byron and Booth expect the DeSantis property to fuel the same kind of frenzy surrounding the TGP.

Lake Shore has also signed a term of agreement with Black Hawk Mining Inc. to acquire 100 per cent of Black Hawk's interest in the Vogel property located in Hoyle Township within the Timmins Gold Camp.

The property straddles 800 metres of favourable gold-bearing zones, between the Bell Creek gold deposits and the Hoyle Pond. Located one km to the east of Hoyle is the highest head grade of all past or present gold producers in the Timmins Gold Camp.

"The addition of the Vogel Property substantially strengthens Lake Shore's gold assets in the Timmins Camp," Booth says.

What keeps guys like Booth and Byron plugged into their work is the satisfaction of a new discovery from an idea.

"The joy is dragging that drill in for the first time," Byron says.

"We are like kids at Christmas time waiting for the results to show up."

Both Booth and Byron believe the next resource base target of 1.5 million ounces is realistic and achievable with a planned program.

Timmins is known as one of the premier gold camps in Canada, producing more than 70 million ounces since the early 1900s.

"Our intention is to become a very aggressive company in the western part of Timmins and grow the company's assets as best we can," Booth says.

www.lsgold.com

By KELLY LOUISEIZE

Northern Ontario Business