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The Nova Scotia government is using small aircraft to do aerial geologic surveys and investing in research in hopes of getting a better understanding of what minerals the province has to offer to mining companies.
The Department of Natural Resources has small aircraft equipped with sensors flying over much of the province to update geophysical data and fill in data gaps.
“The sensors are passively measuring natural magnetic signals that are coming from the ground and naturally occurring signals or characteristics of the rocks and soils. So we get information about the overall geology and the structures below the surface of the earth,” Rebecca Scholtysik, the department’s manager of critical minerals and resources, said on Information Morning Nova Scotia.
The province wants to improve the overall understanding of geology in Nova Scotia in hopes of attracting investment by mining companies.
Nova Scotia already maps out its mineral deposits and land use, but Scholtysik expects this project to provide much-needed updates.
“It’s much more modern than the other data that we have currently available. It will likely give us new information that we don’t yet have,” she said.
The aerial surveys aren’t for any specific minerals, but they’re expecting to identify certain opportunities for mining and where more research might be useful, she said.
$1.5M on projects
The province also announced this week that it’s spending $1.5 million on 17 mineral exploration and research projects.
Military Metals Corp. is getting $100,000 to drill at the company’s West Gore Antimony Project in Hants County.
Saint Mary’s University earth sciences professor Jacob Hanley is receiving more than $61,000 for student research focused on better understanding of critical mineral deposits, particularly lithium, in southwestern Nova Scotia.
“Nova Scotia has the resources the world needs, and we have an opportunity to develop them responsibly right here at home,” Minister of Natural Resources Tory Rushton said in a news release.
The mining sector contributes more than $400 million to Nova Scotia’s economy every year, according to a news release from the province.
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