When the hard-freeze of winter comes to the land, many mineral explorers across Canada take advantage of good travelling surfaces to increase the tempo of their search. Following the prospectors are others who also use sub-zero temperatures as a practical friend. In the Malarctic-Val d'Or region of western Quebec, 300 miles north of Lake Ontario, nearly a dozen diamond-drill rigs have been searching for gold from the frozen surface of Lake de Montigny. On the flat ice surface the drill rigs are easily erected. With no need for boats and barges the drilling of many thousands of feet of rock core becomes economical and exact. Careful studies of the drill samples have now established the presence of 5,000,000 tons of gold-bearing ore averaging nearly two ounces of the precious (37-dollars-an-ounce) metal per ton. Backed by the knowledge gained from the drill holes, a main shaft is being sunk 1,150 feet; a new gold mine, scheduled to go into production next year, has been born -- ready to help Canada maintain number three position (after South Africa and Russia) among the gold-producing countries of the world.