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Junior miners can dig into this exploration funding pot

Applications being taken for Ontario Junior Exploration Program
Great Bear Resources core logging
(Great Bear Resources)

Is the next Dixie Gold Project out there waiting to be discovered?

Vancouver's Great Bear Resources, discoverers of this top tier Red Lake deposit, recently scooped up by Kinross Gold, were one of the early recipients of the super successful provincial mineral exploration incentive program launched in 2015.

The program helps junior mining companies finance early exploration projects that could eventually lead to the development of mines.

Great Bear used $100,000 in funding from the Junior Exploration Assistance Program to jumpstart a drill program that eventually springboarded them to a second phase of exploration that produced a high-grade discovery hole in the northwestern Ontario mining camp.

The program still exists, redubbed the Ontario Junior Exploration Program, and is accepting applications on Jan. 10 at 9 am EST and close Feb. 15, 2022.

Applications are assessed on a first-come, first-serve basis. The program is providing $5 million over two years to eligible junior mining companies conducting grassroots early exploration in Ontario.

Companies can apply for funding to cover eligible costs of up to $200,000 per mineral exploration project. Projects can start on April 1, 2022 and are expected to end by February 15, 2023.

To be eligible, applicants must be:

- be a non-producing, junior mining company registered to conduct business in Ontario

- have a market capitalization of up to $100 million (or private companies with an equivalent value) on July 26, 2021 for Year 1 applications and January 10, 2022 for Year 2 applications

- provide proof that they have the funds to cover 100 percent of project costs at the time of application

- ability to provide a copy of a valid Certificate of Insurance for this project with general commercial liability coverage at a limit of not less than $2 million per occurrence.

- be enrolled in the Mining Lands Administration System (MLAS) and eligible to hold mining claims in Ontario

- have an exploration plan and/or permit valid at the time of application and for the duration of the project (where required)

- have the approval of the tenure holder to conduct the proposed project in the event of an option agreement or co-tenure holder relationship

- submit an application that meets the definition of grassroots exploration in the Program Guide