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Inco will resume its exploration for uranium in southeastern New Brunswick next week by drilling at an undisclosed site 20 kilometres from Metro Moncton.

Company spokesman Cory McPhee would not divulge where the drilling will take place, but he said it would be on Crown land not be near the Turtle Creek watershed, which supplies Metro Moncton with its drinking water.

Inco, a Toronto-based mining corporation with net sales of more than $8 billion last year, is one of four companies exploring for uranium in New Brunswick.

Yvonne Devine, president of the southeast chapter of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, said yesterday members of the organization will be "keeping their eyes open" for the drill trucks next week.

Inco signed a five-year agreement with the Province of New Brunswick last year for the exploration of uranium on about 133,000 hectares (329,000 acres) of land. The area for exploration must be cut in half by June 1, according to the agreement.

Inco paid the province $700,000 for the first year of exploration.

Exploration began last year based on previous geological surveys, some of the dating back to the 1970s, McPhee said. The current "energy crisis" combined with increased worldwide demand for uranium prompted renewed interest in New Brunswick's potential, he added. Also, prices from uranium have increased sharply in recent months.

Inco identified two sprawling areas for exploration "one known as the Sussex project and the other as the Caledonia project, which included the contentious Turtle Creek watershed in Albert County. The company began with basic site inspections, which included soil sampling and it led to diamond drilling, 250 metres deep, to get core samples.

"The fact of mineral exploration is that is like looking for a needle in a haystack," the Inco spokesman said.