Metal earth is a start. Even though it's $104 million, it's still a start. We have a long way to go.
The metal earth initiative seeks to understand how metals were concentrated during our planet's evolution. That's the scientific goal. The applied goal is to understand the processes responsible for differential metal endowment. We have vast areas of Canada's north and far north that are geologically similar but do not have the same metal endowment. They don't have the same metal concentration.
What metal earth aims to do is to understand why, and then to provide industry—and this is where the innovation comes in, and it's fundamental—knowledge converted to tools to target the most prospective areas, and to take a vast area of Canada's north and far north and be able to say that we can narrow it down to these areas to explore. That also helps governments with their policies.
Essentially that's what metal earth is meant to do. It's a start. It's not going to be the end; it's the beginning. It's the first time we've ever had the funds to undertake this project, one of this magnitude in Canada. It's only seven years, but we want to build it and we want to sustain it. That's what it's about. We want to be able to provide industry...so they can go in, and use new techniques and new tools. The surveys can collect the appropriate data.
We may not be collecting appropriate data during our surveys up north to actually help industry, but the whole idea is to understand why deposits are there and how to target them. We're going to be working mainly in northern Ontario and Quebec, but we're also going to be working in Nunavut and NWT in this first seven-year phase.