Each year around the time that we are finalizing our Exploration issue, Major Drilling Group International lends a helpful hand by releasing its quarterly results. The TSX-listed company has rigs and drillers working around the world and so its report is a great snapshot of the general level of mineral exploration and a useful empirical antidote to the unfailing optimism of junior mining promoters.

“Exploration activity levels continue to increase in all regions,” wrote CEO Denis Laroque. “While revenue is up 10 per cent as compared to the same quarter last year, the volume of activity increased by more than 10 per cent.” Despite the uptick, the company still posted a loss.

In other words, the driller is getting busier, although it is still a buyer’s market for its services. A recent report from PwC Canada tells a similar story from a different perspective. The market value of the top 100 junior miners on the TSX Venture has also moved upward, but as the report’s lead author Liam Fitzgerald relates in our conversation with him, junior companies have more money on hand to spend, but they are spending it conservatively. And, as Virginia Heffernan relates in the feature piece, “In search of answers”, explorers are also paying much closer attention to technologies such as artificial intelligence and image analysis tools that can help stretch those drilling dollars further by refining prospective targets.

Colombia, Major Drilling reports, is one area seeing a healthy increase in exploration activity. Continental Gold, subject our most recent project profile, is among its clients there. In addition to building the Buriticá mine in the province of Antioquia, the company is planning an extensive drilling campaign at the project to expand its reserves. Continental and Cordoba Minerals, whose local economic development work we highlight in “A sweet solution to social responsibility” are just two projects of many in the region eager to make the most of the improved security and policy environment in that country.

So, as we hunker down for the winter, there are promising signs of spring for the mining sector.

From everyone at CIM Magazine, I wish you the best for the year ahead.