They're not panning for gold like in the Old West, but the Nova Scotia government has awarded some grant money to a handful of mineral prospectors.
Natural Resources Minister Margaret Miller announced close to $200,000 in grant funding so that prospectors can find and develop new mineral deposits.
“It's new and it's exciting, and it just shows you what all the possibilities there are in the industry,” Miller says.
Mineral prospectors at Nova Scotia's Drill Core Library in Stellarton are searching for valuable elements. The library holds 700,000 metres of sample rock and mineral from drill holes across the province over the last 60 years.
“I'm always amazed that basically that there's a library here that, a free library, that geologists, prospectors and university researchers can come here. I will bring the core out for them. Drop them in one of the two labs and they can analyze it,” says Core Library supervisor Mick O’Neill.
Computer analysis helps determine what elements and minerals are in each sample.
“(Indium) wasn't hot in the 80s because these things weren't around when they originally pulled this core out of the ground. They were looking for zinc and tin,” says prospector John Shurko.
Core samples continue to arrive at the library, and it's expected their newest storage building will be filled up within a year’s time.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Dan MacIntosh.
