Gold Exploration Boom Reaches...Ottawa

There's a lingering stereotype about Ottawa, Canada's capitol: it's a one-industry town, and that industry is government. Back in the '80s and '90s, nearby Kanata became a hub of computer-technology companies thanks to Corel and others. As it turns out, there are other hubs in the Ottawa area. One of them is gold exploration.

Typically, at least according to stereotype, gold explorers have their headquarters in Vancouver, B.C. It makes sense because the hub of junior-stock finance is still Howe Street in that same city. The second choice is Toronto.

Ottawa, though, is becoming a new hub in large part because of the University of Ottawa's well-regarded earth-science department and the federal government's data files.

Tiny Ottawa companies like Everton Resources, Northern Shield, Galahad Metals, PC Gold, Aura Silver, [Melkior Resources] and Mazorro today enjoy stock prices that, while still in penny status, are typically two to three times higher than a year earlier. Some have stock market capitalizations in the $30-million and $40-million range, which makes them competitors to much better known technology stocks like March Networks.

Some established companies with proven track records of delivering working mines, such as Orezone, have market caps of $225 million. Orezone got a big push late last year when drilling in West Africa found new evidence of strong gold reserves, a coup for chief executive Ron Little.

Paramount Gold and Silver survived a major U.S. regulatory scare two years ago to generate strong results from drilling in Mexico close to existing mines....

Of all these companies, PC Gold is the one attracting attention amongst exploration players.