Storimin leaves Moss Lake in `good hands’

Recent results indicate that the Moss Lake project, 70 miles west of Thunder Bay, Ont., has the potential to become a large-tonnage, low- grade open pit gold-copper-silver operation. The project was optioned from two cash-strapped juniors, Storimin Exploration and Tandem Resources, by Central Crude. Al Storey, 63, president of Storimin, compares vending the project to sending his child to university. “It is sad to see him go, but the departure is to his benefit,” he told The Northern Miner. “I have left my kid in good hands. He is well provided for.” Noranda Exploration, Central Crude’s operator, plans to spend $4 million on the project within the next five years.

Storimin was listed on the Alberta Stock Exchange in 1984. Storey started organizing his company in 1983 after decades of involvement in the mining industry as a geophysicist. Born in Montreal and raised in Alma, Que., he speaks both English and French fluently. Alma is a rural town and is snowbound in the winter, so the youth longed for adventures. He saw geology as a ticket to the world beyond.

In 1950 he obtained his B.Sc. degree in geology from St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia. 0600,0000 After that, he had worked for different companies across the country, including Hudson Bay Mining & Smelting in the Flin Flon area of Manitoba, the Asbestos Corp. in Thetford- Mines, Que., and Conwest Exploration in the Yukon. From 1959 to 1983, Storey promoted geophysics all over the world for Canadian Aero Kenting Service. His French came in handy when he was in the African countries.

For 28 years, Storey has been married to Denise, a French Canadian from Thetford-Mines. He met her at Asbestos where she worked as a secretary. The couple have a son, who holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Alberta.

Storey’s marriage may symbolize a workable union between French Canada and English Canada. At home, the couple speak both English and French, often switching from one language to the other without any hesitation. They never fight although they hold opposing views of political issues, and their debate sometimes verges on friction. “We relate to each other as human beings,” he says, rather than as representatives of linguistic groups.