About the Facility - Industry, Energy and Technology

The Matty Mitchell Prospectors Resource Room is a government–industry partnership developed by the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Industry, Energy and Technology to provide assistance to this province’s prospecting community. The Resource Room delivers technical support as well as advice, mentoring and promotional services to prospectors, rock hounds, mineral collectors and other interested members of the public from all parts of the province. Opened in 1998, the facility is located in the department’s Geological Survey (St. John’s), and is dedicated to pioneering prospector Matty Mitchell.

Operation and development of the Resource Room are overseen by a public–private-sector management committee, representing the department’s Geological Survey and Mineral Development divisions, and Mining Industry NL. The Resource Room is staffed with a full-time professional geologist, under direction of the management committee.

Mission Statement

The Matty Mitchell Prospectors Resource Room project is designed to support prospectors by providing them with mentoring, technical support, and promotional assistance, thereby assisting in the creation of wealth and jobs through sustainable mineral development. The current programs in support of prospectors and others in the provincial exploration industry across Newfoundland and Labrador help to achieve the project’s goal of stimulating the provincial mineral industry and attracting new mineral investment to the province.

Information and Consultation Services

The Matty Mitchell Prospectors Resource Room provides its information services mainly through on-site visits to the Resource Room, by responses to email or telephone requests, by way of prospecting workshops, and via its web site. Basic rock and mineral identification is one of the most fundamental services offered. Prospectors are further assisted in locating pertinent geological information to select or refine target areas, generate and further advance new prospects, or reinterpret known targets. Resource Room users may be also directed to off-site sources of information and, where necessary, referred to Department of Industry, Energy and Technology staff, MUN Earth Science faculty and individuals in the mineral exploration industry.

Promotional Services

The Resource Room also develops and maintains a “Property Poster Series” – digitally produced information packages on individual properties. These meld prospectors’ data with geological data and interpretation from various sources and are an important aid to prospectors in promoting and optioning their properties. The Resource Room also produces a semi-annual series of maps, booklets and CD-ROMs, listing individual prospector and junior company properties that are available for option. These provide thumbnail sketches of property commodity, mineralization style, contact information and location.

Prospector Support at Mineral Industry Conferences

The Resource Room provides logistical support for prospectors attending local and national mining and mineral exploration conferences and trade shows. Assistance is provided to prospectors prior to, during, and as follow-up to these events; the Resource Room also assists those who cannot be in attendance by promoting their properties at these meetings. Participation is in conjunction with Mining Industry NL and the Geological Survey, Mineral Development and Mineral Lands divisions, and focuses primarily on individual prospect promotion, and, therefore, promotes the province in general as a region to invest exploration dollars.

Public Awareness Initiatives

The Resource Room is involved in public awareness initiatives to help urban and rural regions appreciate the possibilities of new economic development linked to the minerals industry. This is done in a number of ways, including participation in rural development conferences, providing prospecting workshops and field trips, and making presentations at various educational facilities.