First off, there is no "oil pump drive gear". The oil pump is driven off of the hexagonal shaft that slips into the bottom of the distributor, which is turned by its own drive gear.
Do you mean the gear on the auxiliary shaft? It is the mounted in the block and is spun by the timing belt.
If you meant auxiliary shaft, then your best option (and almost only one) is to go to a salvage yard and find a vehicle with the 2.3L and pull the aux shaft from it. It only takes 30 minutes maximum to get one out, and you'll even be able to get a matched distributor/drive gear combo for use in the future, if needed (and if you have the money to spare).
As for the metal in your oil pan, it may be there, it may not. Get a magnetic drain plug. The strainer on the pick up tube is really good about keeping metal chunks out of the oil pump, but even if the metal bits get past the strainer, they will only affect the oil pump. Once the pump pumps the oil, it goes straight to the filter, which keeps the metal bits out of the most important parts of the engine.
Much better to replace just the pump rather than the slew of bearings in the rest of the engine... (Still sucks that you have to pull the block to get to the pump, anyway...)