Essar Steel Algoma is getting rid of these. Are you interested?

As part of its court-supervised restructuring process, Essar Steel Algoma has listed a group of Northern Ontario mining properties for sale.

The 10 sites with possible mining potential are being sold separately from the Sault steelmaker's main sales and investment solicitation process.

"Most of these properties have been owned by Algoma since the early 1900s, some of which contain historical iron mines with historical resources defined," says a company listing.

"Most haven't seen exploration for more than 40 years and have been historically explored almost exclusively for iron,"

"These projects were all acquired for the purpose of exploring/exploiting iron resources, yet many are in known gold producing areas as well and have yet to see serious exploration for gold or other commodities,"

"There is potential for most of the properties to find new mineralization with modern exploration techniques."

Some of the properties have environmental remediation conditions or other rehabilitation requirements attached, Algoma says.

"The ten properties consist of freehold land with historic exploration/mining and historic, non-compliant resources on some of the properties," the listing states.

Two of the properties (Cowie-Morrison, McAuley) are in the Sault Ste. Marie area.

Three are in the Wawa area (Wawa Loonskin, Firesand, Grace).

Three are north of Wawa (Goudreau, Magpie, Iron Lake).

The final two properties (Nipigon Forest Reserve, Eagle Island) are elsewhere in Northern Ontario.

The following are summary reports on Algoma's 10 mining properties, based on descriptions provided by the company:

• Cowie-Morrison Property - 963 hectares located 65 kilometres north-northeast of Sault Ste. Marie in Nahwegezhic Township. It contains four iron ore bodies that haven't been mined and "have the potential to host economic amounts of iron," the company says. The site is in the Goulais River Iron Range, which in 1968 was estimated to have reserves sufficient to produce one million tons of pellets per year for about 30 years. "The property has not been explored for any other commodity such as gold that is known to be associated with iron formations." The property can be accessed through Searchmont or Mekatina.
• McAuley Property - 63 hectares located 20 kilometres north-northeast of Sault Ste. Marie. The McAuley iron occurrence (titaniferous magnetite in Proterozoic rocks) is located in the centre of the property. It's accessible on three kilometres of unpaved road off Highway 556.
• Wawa - Loonskin Property - A large land package of 3,450 hectares bordering the Wawa town limits. There are two former operating iron mines on the property: Helen/MacLeod and Sir James Mines. Algoma Central Railway's tracks run alongside the entire northern boundary of the Wawa Property with a spur connecting the old Sir James Mine on the east end of the property. Between the two mines, the Johnson Iron Range has never been mined.
• Firesand Property - 504 hectares in McMurray Township and Lastheels Township, 11 kilometres from Wawa and three kilometres south of Highway 101. This site was explored for iron until 1952 and for niobium, phosphorus (apatite), calcite and uranium from 1953 to 1976. The property "has not been explored for tantalum, zirconium and rare earth element mineralization, which are typically associated with carbonatite intrusions."
• Grace Mine Property - a 1.2-hectare claim three kilometres south-southeast of Wawa in McMurray Township. It's located in the Michipicoten Greenstone Belt, which hosts several operating and historical gold mines. "There are six gold occurrences within 1.5 kilometres of the property boundaries, one of which, the Grace Mine, operated intermittently between 1901 and 1944. Surluga Gold Mine is 4.5 kilometres from the Grace Property.
• Goudreau Property - 588 hectares located 35 kiloemtres northeast of Wawa, offering both road and rail access onto the site. "The property covers approximately 10 kilometres of iron formation horizon and has been mined historically for pyrite. The focus of historical exploration and mining activity on the Goudreau Property was only for iron and none of the historical drill core (pre-1962) has been assayed for gold."
• Magpie Property - 117 hectares covering the Magpie Iron Range. Accessible by road from Wawa. "It was mined intermittently between 1911 and 1924 and the last exploration in 1951 to 1953 with the drilling of four drill holes. Reserves at the Magpie Mine were last estimated in 1917 at 634,900 tons." There are two gold, silver and lead occurrences hosted in veins less than one kilometre from this property, and a diamond occurrence two kilometres away. The property is 25 kilometres north-northeast of Wawa.
• Iron Lake Property - 252 hectares located 78 kilometres northwest of Wawa via the Trans Canada Highway and a network of secondary roads, in Keating and Keating Additional Townships. "The focus of exploration has been pockets of hematite; the magnetite content has not been investigated. Essar’s Property is cut by the Iron Lake Deformation Zone that is associated with gold mineralization. There are thirteen gold and/or copper occurrences within five kilometres of the property boundaries."
• Nipigon Forest Reserve Property -16.187 hecatres located 16 kilometres northeast of Beardmore, Ontario with road access.
• Eagle Island Property - A total of 24 hectares located on three islands in the western part of Lake St. Joseph in northwestern Ontario, about 108 kilometres northeast of Sioux Lookout. Lake St. Joseph Iron Ltd. completed two drill holes completed in 1958 and 1959. Both holes intersected magnetite and hematite banded beds. Essar’s Eagle Island is immediately adjacent to Rockex’s iron ore property.

Deadline for bids on the 10 Essar Steel Algoma properties is 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 22.

To obtain a copy of the sale process instruction letter, email  a[email protected]