A British Columbia-based company that has finished the first phase of exploration activities on an area of land spanning several Pontiac municipalities indicated in a January press release it will continue toward a second phase of exploration.

Showcase Minerals Inc. owns about 60 mining claims in the area, spanning about 3,461 hectares across the municipalities of Litchfield, Mansfield and Pontefract, and Otter Lake.

In the release, the company said it had completed the first phase of surveying activities on the land, including geological mapping, rock sampling and ground prospecting, finding rare earth elements (REEs), uranium and other minerals.

“We are excited by the results [ . . . ] These findings highlight the property’s significant rare earth element potential,” Kirk Reed, CEO of Showcase Minerals was quoted as saying in the release.

“As global demand for clean energy technologies and strategic materials continues to grow, the Pontiac Project’s potential as a multi-commodity exploration target aligns with our commitment to advancing projects that support a sustainable future. We look forward to building on these results in Phase II.”

A previous release from September indicated phase two of exploration would involve ​​“trenching and stripping operations” and “further prospecting, geological mapping, and sampling work throughout the property.”

The company did not respond to repeated interview requests, but THE EQUITY was able to determine the company is headquartered in Salmon Arm, B.C., was incorporated in 2020 and listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange in 2023.

In the independent auditor’s report of the company’s most recent annual financial statement, auditor K.R. Margetson Ltd. wrote the company “does not currently have the financial resources to sustain operations in the long-term.”

“The company has incurred net losses of $718,176 since inception, has a working capital deficit of $42,208 and has never made any sales of its products,” the audit continued.

As of Monday, none of the three mayors whose municipalities touch Showcase Mining’s claims had heard about the surveying activity, and neither had MRC Pontiac warden Jane Toller.

“At this point there has been no communication with the MRC or municipalities,” confirmed Toller in a message, adding that companies often purchase claims but do not necessarily proceed to the extraction phase.

Mining claims, which are each typically about 10 hectares in size, can be purchased from the province’s natural resources ministry.

“Often, companies speculate or have claims which they announce to draw attention and it could increase stock activity,” Toller said, noting that in her experience as warden, very few claims have amounted to mining activity.

“In the seven and a half years that I’ve been warden, I am only aware of Sphinx [on Calumet Island], and that didn’t work out,” she said. “There could be a lot of claims that are just speculation and interest that will never be followed up on, so I don’t think there’s cause for alarm.”

Region’s mining claims doubled since 2019

According to the online mining claims database available on Quebec’s natural resources ministry’s website, there are currently between 200 and 300 active mining claims in the area Showcase Minerals has surveyed, roughly located between Highway 148 and Highway 301, south of Squaw Lake.

A coalition of mining industry watchdogs found that in 2023 there were over 330,000 active mining claims in Quebec. Per the province’s natural resources ministry, in 2022 only 14 per cent of claims proceeded to the exploration stage.

There were 112,447 mining claims approved in 2023 province-wide, an increase of nearly 40,000 from the year prior. In the Outaouais, the number of active mining claims has more than doubled since 2019.
Carolyn Raab, a co-founder of anti-mining activism group Action Low, said mining claims can be purchased cheaply by companies for less than $80 each.

Raab, who helped form the group to fight a recent increase in mining claims in her home municipality of Low, noted the process happens in several phases. Once the surface-level exam has been done, companies can move to the exploration phase, breaking ground to see if there is enough mineral there to justify mining on a large scale.

She said mining claims can be held on a property without the knowledge of the property owner, but if a company gets government authorization to proceed with exploration, landowners have little-to-no say in the process.

“If it’s private property, you’re going to get expropriated. That typically doesn’t work out well for the landowner, and the landowner has no say in the matter. You don’t own it to begin with, so your negotiating power is pretty minimal.”

Raab explained municipalities can request that certain lands gain a designation called TIAM, or territory incompatible with mining activity, which would exempt land from mineral exploration, and can apply for this exemption if the land falls within an urban perimeter, if the mining activity would interfere with agricultural or touristic areas or with places of historical or cultural importance.

In 2020 the city of Sherbrooke successfully designated all but 77 hectares of its territory as incompatible with mining activity, in response to an increase in mining claims.

Toller said the MRC has already designated areas along the banks of the Coulonge and Black rivers as incompatible with mining activities.

“In our land management plan, we do have incompatible areas, and those would be two of them,” she said.

“No mining can take place there.”

Toller also said that while there hasn’t historically been much mining activity, she believes it could bring jobs to local workers who travel elsewhere to work in mines.

“It would be great someday if we had some form of mining operation, because we have people who are experienced who could work here.”