Business stories that have little or nothing to do with the COVID pandemic find it hard to get much attention these days. And that’s probably not surprising given the impact of the Corona virus but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some things beyond self-isolation and re-opening going on.
One is a relatively quiet auction sale conducted by the provincial government. It will hold a couple this year and they are selling the rights to sub-surface minerals. The exercise is similar to the auction for oil and gas rights which go on a half dozen times a year but this one targets a long list of elements such as boron, magnesium and iodine.
The results of the most recent sale were released a few days ago with lithium being the most popular mineral. It is used in making batteries and an important ingredient in finding alternate energy solutions. A bid for property in the Estevan area drew the highest bid of $16,000 for one property. Almost $170,000 was raised on sales of sub-surface rights targeting 16 pieces of land.
