METALS: The Dark Blue Mountain

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Paule Emile LaPointe, chief pilot for Quebecair Inc., a Canadian bush airline, was making a routine charter flight in a Douglas DC-3 from Goose Bay, Labrador to Mont Joli, Quebec one afternoon last June. With him was his copilot, Bill Awatter. Because the weather was clear, they dropped to about 1,000 feet and began looking for a Beechcraft that had been lost with two men aboard earlier this year. Awatter took the controls, and LaPointe concentrated on ground search.

Peering downward, LaPointe noted a "funny mountain which looked rusty and nearly dark blue." Awatter, watching the instruments, gave an exclamation. The magnetic compass had swung 90 degrees as the plane neared the mountain. "The needle is crazy," said Awatter. LaPointe took the controls and circled the mountain, but the compass steadied down. Awatter and LaPointe agreed not to mention the incident to anyone else.

At the end of June, LaPointe and Awatter returned to the dark blue mountain; this time the needle spun even more wildly than before. "We struck it rich," cried Awatter. But LaPointe restrained his enthusiasm until they could rent a float plane and land on a small lake to take a closer look at the mountain. "It was nearly all metal," said LaPointe.

On their next visit to the mountain, the two pilots took along Geologist Stephen Melihercsik. When he saw the ore he caught the pilots' excitement. "What a beast!" he exclaimed. "Terrific!" It was iron and titanium ore. The three men formed a partnership, and over the next few weeks, bought 70 mining claims.

Last week the three men announced that they had sold options on their claims for $15,000 to the Hollinger (Quebec) Exploration Co., a subsidiary of Hollinger Consolidated Gold Mines, Ltd. If the Hollinger Co. buys the claims, the purchase price, payable in annual installments over 27 years and tax free as capital gains, will be $1,230,000.