Southern Ontario prospectors now have a voice. The Southern Ontario Prospectors Association (SOPA) has been formed to address the needs and concerns of prospectors in southern Ontario, as we face unprecedented loss of land access and security of tenure coupled with ever increasing red tape and legislation. Prospectors working in Southern Ontario have particular issues such as working in areas with a greater percentage of patented lands, higher population, greater environmental focus, and high tourism value. The creation of SOPA will complete the coverage of representation for prospectors throughout Ontario.

The Southern Ontario Prospectors Association is a non-profit association representing prospectors, explorationists, mineral collectors, stone producers and mining companies working in or having an interest in southern Ontario. SOPA will be a central venue to provide access to information and contacts within the prospecting and mining community. SOPA aims to integrate prospector’s interests with those of mineral exploration professionals, and mining companies. SOPA will be a voice to lobby government on mining and land access issues for southern Ontario on behalf of its membership. Through SOPA’s affiliation with the Ontario Prospectors Association (OPA) we will be included as part of the Ontario Geological Survey Advisory Board. We will also have representation on the Provincially Significant Mineral Potential Committee that will affect staking and land access within the proposed sites under the Ontario Living Legacy Land Use Strategy.

The creation of SOPA was initiated during the early part of 2000 as it was identified that a need existed for the representation of prospectors working in southern Ontario. In June a survey of interest questionnaire had been circulated to clients of the Resident Geologist Office in Tweed. The results of this survey were compiled and a core group of directors were appointed. SOPA’s constitution was drafted and papers of incorporation were filed with the Government of Ontario and are currently being processed.

Since our inception we have been active making presentations and written submissions on behalf our membership at Ontario Living Legacy and Great Lakes Heritage Coastline forums; also we have run our first, very successful field trip, in cooperation with the Southern Ontario Resident Geologists Office in Tweed.

SOPA has acquired an excellent geological library that was very generously donated by Teck Corporation. The library will serve as a tremendous resource to our membership as it contains a vast collection of geological reports, many of which are now out of print and are thus difficult to obtain. This Library has been set up in a building at the site of the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines Resident Geologist's Office in Tweed.

Southern Ontario Prospectors Association, P.O. Box 796, Bancroft, K0L 1C0

Fred Swanson, President
tel: (613) 332-3857
e-mail: fswanson@bancom.net