Canadian mining company Colossus Minerals has discovered two unexpected deposits with high concentrations of gold and platinum at its Serra Pelada project in Pará, raising hopes that there are more undiscovered mineral reserves in the region.

Colossus reported that the deposits were discovered 150 meters north and 50 meters west of the central Serra Pelada area. The company hopes to dig deeper into the region where the deposits were discovered to expand exploration, according to Colossus spokeswoman Kristen LeBlanc. “We’d be crazy not to explore to see what else is out there. Our intention is to go ahead and find that.”

One analyst said the discovery of gold far from the central Serra Pelada region was a surprise. “We didn’t expect there to be more reserves there. It adds tonnage to what had already been established. It’s also a very high-grade deposit,” the analyst commented, who preferred to remain anonymous. The company had previously planned to build a mine in the region, but this discovery makes mining in this region a more profitable project, the analyst said.

The company’s shares rose on the news. “On a day when most mining companies are trading lower, is this reasonable? Of course,” the analyst commented. By the end of the Toronto Stock Exchange session, Colossus shares were up 8.8%.

In the third quarter of this year, the company will begin building an underground ramp to explore the area where the new deposits were discovered. But LeBlanc was unable to say when construction of the mine would begin.

In July 2007, Colossus entered into a partnership with the Mineração dos Garimpeiros de Serra Pelada (Coomigasp) cooperative to explore 100 hectares of land in Serra Pelada, where the new deposits were discovered. In March this year, Colossus also acquired more than 770 hectares of new land near the Serra Pelada region, which has not yet been explored.

In the 1980s, Serra Pelada experienced the largest gold rush in Latin American history. Information comes from Dow Jones.