Prospecting - The Search for New Gold and Minerals

Prospecting for Silver

2011-11-15T14:13:00.001-06:00

The price of Silverhas fluctuated some over recent months but it remains at levels that make it anattractive mineral for prospecting attention. As of Nov 3 Silver made gains of0.8 percent, to $34.48 per ounce.

Silver has alwaysbeen seen as a favourite mineral in the prospecting community; while not asexciting as Gold or PGM's it still is an attention getter when discovered. Thegrade needs to be higher than more expensive precious metals like gold, buthaving lesser amounts as by-products in lead, zinc and copper depositscertainly adds value to the overall ore.

The three silverhotspots in the world are Mexico, Peru and China. These countries boost thebest grades and annual production of silver in the world. In 2010 Mexicoproduced 129 million ounces, Peru put out 116 million ounces and it isestimated that China produced over 99 million ounces.

Numerous companiesmine and explore for silver in many regions of the world, some focused entirelypure silver mines yet many others have silver as a valuable metal in poly-metallicmineral deposits. In many cases thesilver is not the primary metal being mined however its content serves well tocreate additional income and in increasing the overall value per tonne of oremined.

While it would begreat to be able to prospect for and find a viable silver mine, finding one maybe a challenge in any location these days. What may be more valuable to theprospector is working on some base metal occurrences and reviewing them for theirpotential of also hosting silver as a by-product metal. This may add greatervalue to a marginal deposit of lead, zinc, copper etc. So it is something thatyou should assay for if it hasn't already been checked. Even in gold and othermineral deposits it is always a good idea to run a couple of assays for silverand for that matter numerous metals.

Most assay labs offerlower cost ICP type analysis that cover up to 30 or more elements, and youshould always have a couple of those done on any mineral indications you find.It will provide a base level idea of the composition and allow you to focusfuture assay work and finances.

Happy Prospecting!

Top 20 SilverProducing Countries in 2010

(millions of ounces)

1. Mexico 128.6

2. Peru 116.1

3. China 99.2

4. Australia 59.9

5. Chile 41.0

6. Bolivia 41.0

7. United States 38.6

8. Poland 37.7

9. Russia 36.8

10. Argentina 20.6

11. Canada 18.0

12. Kazakhstan 17.6

13. Turkey 12.3

14. Morocco 9.7

15. India 9.7

16. Sweden 9.2

17. Indonesia 6.9

18. Guatemala 6.3

19. Iran 3.4

20. South Africa 2.8

Source: http://www.silverinstitute.org

Antimony supply at top of risk list

2011-09-15T16:31:00.000-05:00

I just read in a news story at mining.com that the British Geological Survey (BGS) on Wednesday published the latest list of the 52 elements, minerals and metals most at risk of supply disruption because global production is concentrated in a few countries, many with unstable governments. Link to full story

It is surprising that the BGS places Antimony at the top of it's published (latest) list of the 52 elements, minerals and metals most at risk of supply disruption. Rare earths used in green technology and defence technologies do not top the list but comes in at number five.

Quote from story

The platinum group metals (auto catalysts) hold the second spot while niobium used in touch screens and scanners and tungsten for cutting tools are also at risk of supply disruption as a result of increased competition among the world’s growing economies, political instability, resource nationalism, along with events such as strikes and accidents. China is the number one producer of 50% of the 52 chemicals on the list and produces 75% of the world’s antimony.

In Newfoundland the Beaver Brook Antimony Mine was reactivated in 2008. In October of 2009, Hunan Nonferrous Metals Corporation (HNC), the largest antimony company in the world, acquired 100% equity of Beaver Brook Antimony Mine Inc. At the end of 2009, China Minmetals Corporation, China’s biggest metal trader, acquired 51% equity of Hunan Holdings Group (HNG), the state-owned parent of HNC. Link to Beaver Creek Mine Profile

The reasoning behind the Chinese investment in the mine and the company holding it becomes clearer and looks like a strategic move, when we look at the BGS list.

Looks like Antimony is could be another good mineral to prospect for.

Happy Prospecting!

Gold From Space

2011-09-13T15:51:00.006-05:00

Found an interesting news story at BBC News Science and Environment written by Leila Battison Science reporter. The story talks about a study by the University of Bristol where scientists looked at the some of the oldest rocks on earth and demonstrated that that gold was delivered by meteorites long after their formation.

A quote from the story

Their results are published in Nature.
While the Earth was forming, iron sank to the centre of the planet, forming the core.
Any precious metals in the planetary mix would have gone with this iron and concentrated in the core, leaving the mantle devoid of elements such as gold, platinum, and osmium.

But this is not what we observe. In fact, the silicate mantle has up to 1,000 times more gold than anticipated.

Several reasons for this enrichment were proposed in the past, including delivery by meteorites, although until now it has not been possible to prove.

By measuring isotopes in rocks that are nearly four billion years old from Greenland, the team has managed to date the gold delivery, and to relate it to an event known as the "terminal bombardment".

The story also goes on to say that the scientists have used a totally different mineral to preform their experiments and reach their conclusions that mineral in Tungsten.

"The proportions of gold and other precious metals are difficult to measure because they concentrate into nuggets, and we need to analyse a lot of rocks to get meaningful data." said lead researcher Dr Matthias Willbold.

They have therefore developed a way of telling this remarkable story of gold's extraterrestrial origin using a completely different element - Tungsten.

More on this story

The study is very interesting I wonder if it would be worth while do a little prospecting at Tungsten occurrences and perhaps do a few assays for gold in those samples?

The whole story about gold and other minerals being "deposited" in younger rocks of the earth as the result of being impacted with 20 billion billion tonnes of asteroid material, is certainly interesting and intriguing.

May dust off some data on local Tungsten deposits. After all, information is the prospectors best friend!

Happy Prospecting!

Newfoundland Gold Specimen

Sample from a Tungsten and Molybdenum Showing

Miners Holding - Markets Down Post Labour Day

2011-09-06T19:18:00.003-05:00

TORONTO-NEW YORK - The Toronto Stock Exchange pared early triple-digit losses but still closed lower Tuesday as North American traders returned from the Labour Day holiday focused on persistent concerns about a global slowdown.

The S&P/TSX composite index finished the day down 83.87 points at 12,518.54 after falling more than 200 points earlier in the session.

The TSX Venture Exchange fell 20.54 points to 1,789.82.
Wall Street markets also lost ground with the Dow Jones industrial average down 100.96 points at 11,139.3. The Dow had been down more than 300 points in morning trading but regained much of the lost ground after European markets closed.

The Nasdaq index fell 6.5 points to 2,473.83 and the S&P 500 was down 8.73 points at 1,165.24.

Yahoo Finance Link to Most actively traded companies on the TSX, TSX Venture Exchange markets

Tawsho Strikes Significant Gold in Newfoundland

2011-08-22T16:46:00.000-05:00

"Tawsho Mining is extremely pleased with these results. The level of successful holes with significant gold intersections is very encouraging. Holes number 6 and 8 contained values in excess of 0.58 ounces gold per ton (20 g/t) and 1.38 ounces gold per ton (47.3 g/t) respectively. These higher grades confirm that substantial amounts of gold are being carried in the hydrothermal and metasomatic fluids on the property. Of further significance is the fact that the strong gold showings were encountered at very shallow depths of less than 50 metres. In fact, all significant gold showings were encountered at less than 250 metre depth," stated Dr. Avedesian, CEO.

Click here For full Press Release

Searching or Gold in Newfoundland Canada

2011-08-22T16:13:00.004-05:00

The Island of Newfoundland represents an emerging underexplored gold district, where focused exploration for precious metals was essentially non-existent prior to the early 1980's. Gold has been mined from epithermal (gold-copper) and orogenic (gold-only) deposits, and as a by-product in several volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) operations. Production from orogenic and VMS deposits is continuing, and a number of new advanced projects are targeting similar deposit styles.

Ongoing exploration is also directed at bulk-tonnage, intrusion- and sediment-hosted deposits, and both high- and low sulphidation epithermal deposits. Recent option- and joint-venture-agreements, coupled with new claim staking, indicate renewed interest in these under explored terranes.

The Department of Natural Resources Newfoundland and Labrador has recently published a helpful Two page flyer highlighting the recent developments concerning Gold Exploration on the island of Newfoundland. A copy can be obtained by clicking here. (PDF Format)

From my own direct involvement with prospecting in Newfoundland I have seen increased activity first hand focused on searching for gold. I have noticed that there are more individuals and companies entering the search each year We have also made discoveries on our properties that show promise and privide the stimulation to keep us prospecting and searching for gold.

Click the link above and download the nicely made Pdf if you have an interest in searching for gold in Newfoundland.

Keep On Prospecting!!

Gold and Copper Property For sale

2011-08-18T15:52:00.003-05:00

Located in Newfoundland Canada

The Ghost Pond property covers 1325 hectare located in Central Newfoundland and situated on geology of the Roberts Arm Formation, a trend that contains numerous past mines and new advanced exploration projects.

The Robert’s Arm Group is a Mid-Ordovician marine volcanic, sub volcanic and volcaniclastic succession which can be traced from Notre Dame Bay in the north to the area of Lake Bond in the south. The Robert’s Arm Group hosts several massive sulphide deposits: Pilley’s Island and Crescent Lake in the north and Gullbridge and Lake Bond in the south. The Buchans Group which is correlative with the Robert’s Arm Group hosts the prolific Buchans, ore bodies.

The Central and Nortre Dame Bay areas of Newfoundland are experiencing heightened exploration and mine development activity. Copper, Zinc, Silver, Gold and Lead are some of the minerals being explored for and mined in the region.

The Ghost Pond property hosts historically know mineral occurrences that have been explored intermittently over the years, by a combination of surface prospecting, stripping - trenching, grab sampling, chip sampling and diamond drilling. Highlights of selected historic assay work are provided below.

Best Gold Grab Samples

Up to 19.4 g/t AU and 11.6 g/t AU ( +others)

Best Gold Chip Samples

6.18 g/t Au over 3 meters

5.60 g/t AU over 3 meters

3.54 g/t AU over 3 meters

Best Drilling Samples

1.74% Cu over 3.5m

1.25% Cu over 3.2m

1.60% Cu over 2.0m

2.93% Cu over 1.23m

1.13% Zn over 1.2m

1.8 g/t Au over 1.0 m

Other Assays Reported

Include 6.55% Zn, 1.85% Pb, 0.8% Cu and 1.05 opt Ag from samples of yet UN-sourced angular float rock.

For more details contact us using this link

Drilling New Copper Discoveries In Newfoundland

2011-08-01T20:15:00.002-05:00

August 1 2011, For Immediate Release - Canada Bay Resources LTD Winnipeg Canada

Canada Bay Resources Ltd today announced that significant milestones have been achieved in advancing the 2011 exploration program at its flagship Copper Project located near St. Juliens in Newfoundland Canada. Today the drilling rig was positioned on station to begin drilling the first two holes of the 10 drill-hole diamond drilling program. This, the first of five drilling setups, was selected to target the high grade area of copper mineralization on which the historic circa 1903 shaft was sunk. Channel cut, chip sampling and grab sampling of the historic shaft, conducted in 2008 - 2009 resulted in numerous high grade assays that returned over 18% copper in areas of intense chalcopyrite mineralization sampled from surface to 15 meters down the old workings.

Robert Freeman project manager reports that the local prospecting crew accomplished this milestone under difficult conditions without mishap and with the precision required. We took on this task that required numerous preparations including constructing a boat dock, preparing the drill sites, finalizing the drilling plan and also acquiring the equipment required to transport the drill rig over rugged terrain.

Nick Bodnar, Bodner Drilling Ltd, the rig owner, worked closely with the management team and the McGrath Brothers, property owners, to ensure that the preparations, site transportation and rig positioning was carried out within a satisfactory time frame and completed safely and efficiently. This is a unique example of excellent teamwork he said. Having the original property owners, the option company (Canada Bay Resources) contractors and prospecting crews all working together with a common goal at a site is exhilarating to witness Freeman said.

What has been discovered to date is quite amazing, I cannot think of many places in the world where a prospector can help find over 56 (and counting) high grade mineral occurrences, some with, 4, 6, 8 or even 12 inches or more of solid copper bearing chalcopyrite ore in hydrothermal intrusions just under the surface. The assays to date are already very significant; I cannot wait to see what this drilling program will show us. Are we seeing the tip of the iceberg or are we scratching the head of a very large elephant? This drilling will help us find out says Freeman.

The St. Juliens copper project is a unique property where high grade copper has been discovered to date at numerous locations over a length of more than 11 kilometers on this 80 sq kilometer property. Having the opportunity to explore and diamond drill a property of this potential represents an amazing business building and value creation opportunity for the shareholders said Don Gibb Company President and CEO. Since adoption of our new business strategy the company has made significant achievements toward achieving the goal of creating both opportunity and wealth for the shareholders.

The St. Juliens project has the potential to achieve great success if we are as successful in drilling as we have been in our company development activities to date. We are a very young company, yet we have the experience and team expertise required to seek out, indentify and capitalize on a mineral exploration opportunity that is grounded in solid evidence and supports taking calculated risks to achieve the overall goal. Without the dedication, work and commitment demonstrated by all parties to date, we could never have reached this stage this fast, Gibb said.

Wilbert McGrath, now Vice President of Canada Bay Resources, worked diligently with his brothers Eddie, Don and Fred to prospect and advance the St. Juliens property back in 2007. My brothers and I had a yearning to try new things and seek opportunity that would benefit both our family and our community. What we have now, started out as a hobby that resulted in obtaining samples of rusty looking rocks that produced some rather amazing assays. With those assays came a somewhat enlarged vision and belief that there may be something of importance still hidden under the ground at the old mine site we once played around. We sought out the help and fundamentally important advice available from the great people at the Department of Natural Resources Mines Branch of Newfoundland, which lead to an opportunity for us to become designated prospectors and to showcase our property at the PDAC 2008 in Toronto Ontario.

On July 30^th 2011 we held our first town hall meeting in St. Juliens, NL. We invited the people from St. Juliens and surrounding communities to come together to give them a general overview of the St. Juliens exploration activity and also to answer any questions they may have. With 40 people in attendance Robert Freeman and I presented a general overview of the project to give the people an understanding of where the project is and what the objectives are for the next six to eight weeks, particularly regarding the drilling rig being set up on location which is most exciting stage of the project thus far. We (the McGrath’s) were pleased to share with the people that from our initial interest in the St. Juliens property four years ago when we pumped out the old mine shaft and sent off our first sample to be analyzed assay. The property has continued to prove itself an exciting property of merit, and the more exploration we do the more interesting the property continues to get. Over the past four years we have discovered many exciting surface showing and various other indications that there is very good potential for mineralization in that area that warranted further and elevated exploration. With all permits and preparations in place and drilling scheduled to begin before mid august we will finally get to see secrets that lay in the St. Juliens geology under the surface. This is an exciting time for Canada Bay resources and for the people of St. Juliens and surrounding area. The people attending the meeting were very supportive of the project and share our level of interest and optimism as we move forward.

The company field crew is also conducting additional grass roots prospecting on yet un – explored portions of the property and we are also engaged in pin point surveying of unchecked geophysical targets using highly effective Beep Mat instruments to follow up on targets of potential that were revealed in the past VTEM geophysical survey and earlier prospecting work. These promising targets could also prove to play an important role in the overall future of the project.

Only about 30% of the property has been looked at in any detail to date. We have basically only scratched the surface yet but have made considerable high grade discoveries. In fact amazing amount of significant copper showings have been discovered on the property and there is strong evidence to support the need for more intense exploration effort that includes diamond drilling. St. Juliens offers considerable potential for locating one or more economic sized copper deposits.

See the Project Images

Visit the Company Website

Going For The Gold

2011-04-20T23:17:00.005-05:00

I read a very interesting press release today... it was good news for both of the companies working the Gold deposit and in advancing their exploration plans... cheers... yet it also helped to further highlight the value that can be achieved from a near surface gold deposit. The companies involved were doing this work to further prove the value of their deposit and not as a mining endeavor per say...

But as a prospector I also see reason to think that finding something were you can make $197 per tonne of rock serves to provide a good stimulus to keep on prospecting...at today's gold prices you may not need to find the mother load to make a profit... if you could find a nice near surface deposit... that can be mined ...

A few years ago these grades were seen as lack luster... today it is a different story as the value of precious metals has changed considerably...

Here are few lines of their press release and a link to the full story...

Paragon and Crosshair Recover 314 Ounces Gold from Surface Bulk Sample at Golden Promise JV Project

Highlights of the program include:

313.59 ounces of gold and 23.05 ounces of silver were recovered from a 2,174 tonne surface bulk sample;
a bulk sample grade of 5.59 grams/tonne (g/t) gold which is approximately 26% higher than the average block model grade of 4.42 g/t gold; and
Positive milling characteristics of the mineralized material.

After refining, the bars and the mill concentrate produced a total of 313.59 ounces of gold and 23.05 ounces of silver which were sold for net receipts of CDN$430,001.85 after treatment charges...

Link to Full Story

Not bad hey... later on they talk about how to improve the recovery...

Keep On Prospecting

Gold Price Hits Record High

2011-04-20T02:13:00.001-05:00

Gold hits new record price as global economic fears push investors into seeking safe heavens.

Spot gold set a new record of $1,501.26 (£917) an ounce in Asian trading, underpinned by a weak dollar. Standard & Poor's downgrade of America's debt outlook on Monday sparked a new flight into safe-haven investments.

Spot silver hit a 31-year high of $44.34 an ounce. Brian Ostroff of Windermere Capital described silver as "gold on steroids" on Tuesday. Gold has gained 32% over the past year, while silver has more than doubled in value.

Full Story @ guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 20 April 2011 07.44 BST

A new mineral has been discovered with potential for yttrium and rare earth elements

2011-01-24T00:59:00.003-06:00

I just enjoyed reading a story in the 1/23/11 edition of the Bangor Daily News about a new mineral discovery made by Jeffery Marsh a graduate student from the University of Maine and had to post on it.

Some Quotes form the story:

ORONO — Jeffrey Marsh was the first person in the world to lay eyes on menzerite-Y, a species of garnet.
Marsh, 33, of Oakland made the discovery in 2009 while working on his doctorate at the University of Maine.

Marsh is a native of San Diego, Calif., who earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees in his home state. He collected the rock in which the new mineral was found in Ontario, Canada, along the southern edge of the Canadian Shield. Not until Marsh got the 1-inch square sample under a microscope did he make his discovery.

Although menzerite-Y is a garnet, it is not large or showy, according to Edward Grew, the research professor of earth science at UMaine who oversaw Marsh’s work. “The size of a new mineral has little bearing on its scientific significance,” Grew said in an e-mail. “Far more important than size is the mineral’s significance to science. Jeff's new mineral is particularly significant because many common garnets, including those found in Maine, contain some yttrium and rare earth elements. [They] are unusually abundant in Jeff's mineral and make it a new species.”

Link to Full Story

Congratulations Mr Marsh. This is great news and proves that not all of the earths secrets have been uncovered. I shall have to start paying more attention to garnets now. Recently I was working on a property in Newfoundland Canada that has a considerable amount of garnets spread over a fairly wide area. As a result today, I was searching for information on garnets and their potential and lo and behold up puts a story on this fresh new mineral discovery concerning a new type of garnet.

It is good to hear that the new mineral has enriched yttrium and other Rare Earth Elements. I watch for news about new deposit discoveries that may be important to the prospecting business, this story is special and unique as it isn't every day that new minerals get discovered. Again Congratulations!

Happy Prospecting

100 once Gold Nugget Going on Auction

2011-01-09T08:07:00.000-06:00

This is the kind of thing that prospectors dream of!

And it is a dream come true for San Francisco businessman Jim Sanders whom just happens to have discovered a 100 once gold nugget while using a metal detector in an unmined ancient stream bed near the old Mother Lode mining camp of Washington when he stumbled on the nugget in February 2010.

A 100-ounce nugget, is expected to fetch between $225,000 and $400,000 when it goes up for auction March 15 in Sacramento, Calif. While current gold prices would make the Washington Nugget worth roughly $130,000, Holabird expects a collector to pay well more because of its historical value. Gold closed at $1,368.90 an ounce Friday. "It's worth more as a collectible," he said. "No one will be melting this thing. It's one of the most important California gold artifacts that exist."

Link to Full Story

Happy Prospecting !

Tune Into Rare Earth Metals

2011-01-09T05:54:00.002-06:00

Just about everyone familiar with the mining and exploration industry is aware that Rare Earth Metals are the focus of increasing exploration effort in many parts of the world today. There have been numerous news stories on Rare Earth Metals (REM) covering issues such as their strategic importance, potential looming shortages, new discoveries, world production dominance by China, increasing prices and so forth. In fact nearly every day we see one or more news articles on the subject.

These minerals and metals are used in many modern devices and appliances. Hybird cars,Smart phones, guided missiles, coloured televisions, ceramics, lasers, superconductors, high-tech magnets, medical diagnostic devices and numerous other applications all contain rare earth elements. The advancement of technologies is fueling the demand for REM and there are indications that it continue to do so for some time into the future.

I think that as prospectors we could be well served if we were to include Rare Earths exploration into our efforts.

A recent news release by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA) sates "The burgeoning global markets and growing high-tech applications for rare earth elements provides Ontario with an opportunity to expand its mining - and manufacturing — sectors" and further on they say "Worldwide demand for these elements is expected to outstrip supply by 40,000 t annually unless new sources are developed, the OMA says. The Ontario Mineral Deposit Inventory documents more than 200 known rare element and rare earth element mineral occurrences across the province".

The Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry says rare element and rare earth element minerals are among the non-traditional metals being targeted for exploration in Ontario. Areas with rare earth development potential in the province would include Bancroft, Elliot Lake, Hearst, Kenora, Marathon and Moosonee."

Link To OMA Full Story

Rare Earth Metals notes of interest

A hybrid car contains about 20 kg of rare earth elements. Demand in 2010 was forecast at 150,000 t with longer range projections indicating a demand of 2 Mt for hybrid, electric and hydrogen vehicles by 2025. Future supply problems for these strategic elements are being compounded by China. At the moment, it produces about 95% of global supply and has 37% of proven reserves. China recently announced it is cutting its rare earth exports by 35% in 2011, which follows hot on the heels of export reduction cuts in the second half of 2010.

Happy Prospecting

Turning rocks into money

2010-10-10T19:27:00.018-05:00

Have you wondered what is involved in finding a new mineral discovery and turning it into a mine? Professional prospectors, geologists, mining engineers, financiers, investors and other professionals think about that process on a daily basis. The process often starts with a prospector and involves many other people and companies over the course of time.

The Prospector

We are a stubborn group - us prospectors, we keep walking the hills, the ridges and the valleys seeking out signs of minerals and looking for the next new discovery. Today was a good day and tomorrow will be a better day, is the thought that guides us in our quest and helps to keep us intrigued and searching both the known and unknown areas of terra firma for something new and hopefully valuable.

Stubborn willpower is the fuel keeps the prospector working and motivated when the challenges continue to pile up and results for efforts are often slim at best. Professional prospecting is demanding and difficult work. It calls for many days or months of hard effort with minimum results, however once we make a discovery the pain of the past is removed and replaced with renewed optimism. A sense of accomplishment and achievement takes over filling us with energy and determination to grow our new found discovery into a mine.

The Exploration Work

Once that new discovery has been made, the next step is to get down to further exploration work designed to gain a better understanding of the nature, size and value of the mineral discovery. This is the first stage of advanced work generally requiring financial and technical support from outside people and companies, unless you happen to be a very wealthy prospector. To truly gain wealth from a mineral discovery requires that it be mined at a profit.

In order to turn the rocks of a discovery into money and wealth also requires that a great deal of time, study and expenditures are necessary before the decision can be made to start mining. This delineation process could take years and depends upon many circumstances including economic conditions such as price, supply and demand for the mineral, the amount of minerals present and the cost of liberating the mineral from the rock.

To help us better understand the process of turning Rocks into Money, I link to a 3 part video series from Brent Cook, taped on site at a gold property in the Yukon Canada. In these videos he quite accurately describes important work activities and the evaluation process required to begin to understand a mineral deposit.

Brent Cook is an independent exploration analyst with over 25 years of experience in both property economics and geology evaluations. As a seasoned geologist, Brent's knowledge spans all areas of the mining business from the conceptual stage through to detailed technical and financial modeling related to mine development and production. More on Brent Cook https://www.explorationinsights.com/pebble.asp?relid=92

The videos are found on YouTube

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

There above provides a good introduction to the “turning rocks into money” process. From this we can certainly understand that the process is complicated and that one good assay result is not enough to create a mine. It takes much more than a single outcrop to create a mine and it often takes much more than press releases to turn a discovery into a profitable mine.

Happy Prospecting.

Copper and Gold Property For Sale or Option

2010-07-20T09:56:00.002-05:00

High Grade Copper Gold Property

Mine Prospectors Corporation (MPC) has available for sale or option a 1225 hectare property located in the central Newfoundland area. The property contains several mineral occurrences with historic showings of over 19 grams / ton gold and copper DDH intersections of 1.74% Cu over 3.5m, 1.25% Cu over 3.2m, 1.6% Cu over 2.0m and 2.93% Cu over 1.5m. Zinc, Silver and Lead showings also exist. This property has strong potential for future gold and base metals discovery.

MPC feels that this property has evidence of high grade gold and copper that will generate new interest at today’s metal prices. It is located in geology similar to historic and present day mines in the region and it is situated in an area with excellent access in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, which is ranked among the top ten mining regions of the world.

The Ghost pond property has mineral occurrences and geological aspects that justify further and more detailed exploration effort using modern methods and models. Past work indicates the existence of mineralization with good metal values over a widespread area as seen in historic diamond drilling results and surface sampling noted is past reports.

Renewed exploration effort is taking place in the region and new mine development is ongoing for both precious and base metals within reasonable distances from the property. The Ghost Pond Property remains yet to be fully tested and all indications are that it represents a land holding that offers considerable potential for new mineral discovery.

Visit www.mineprospector.com for details on this and other mineral prospects.

Mining Strategist Doug Silver Believes There Are At Least 3,000 Million Ounce Gold Deposits Still Out There

2010-05-20T21:13:00.001-05:00

RENO, NV - As gold miners and explorers moan and groan about the decline of major gold deposits in the world, former International Royalty Corp CEO Doug Silver asserts that at least 3,000 gold deposits currently exist globally with 4.9 billion ounces of gold reserves and resources.

In a presentation to the Geological Society of Nevada 2010 Symposium in Sparks, Nevada, Wednesday, Silver–whose passion for research and statistics burn as bright as ever even after selling IRC to Royal Gold for millions and millions-estimates that 638 of those deposits or 22% are endowed with at least one million each of contained ounces.

His research has revealed that 89% of the known gold ounces in this world reside in larger gold deposits. Of those ounces, 40% are measured and indicated resources, 31% are proven and probable reserves, and 29% are inferred resources. One third of them are open pit mineable and one third are located underground.
And, despite the declarations of major mining company CEOs and geologists that the days of really big gold discoveries are waning, Silver’s research has revealed the number of major gold discoveries has been increasing. In fact, the number of million-ounce-plus gold deposits discovered globally has been steadily increasing since the 1920s, he asserts.

“We’ve creating phenomenal value for our companies and our shareholders,” Silver said. “We’ve done very well.”

Read More Link To Full Story

As prospectors and explorers we need to be optimistic. Doug Silver certainly has the credentials to be able to talk on the subject of Gold Exploration. I cannot argue one way or another on the figures but I feel that his words are encouraging. There are indeed new world class gold deposits being discovered and explored, whatever the number is, there is certainly opportunity. Let us research and Let us go out in the hills and search for some new gold.

Happy Posting
This post was made at www.goldsearch.blogspot.com by Robert Freeman

About the author: Robert Freeman is a full time professional prospector with over 20 years direct hands on experience in the field. He manages a prospecting and exploration company which provides mineral claims, mineral claim staking, prospecting services, field and logistical services, along with consulting property management and acquisition services to the mining industry. He founded or played a key role in the formation of several exploration companies and has created mineral exploration land packages in numerous regions of Canada for both public and private companies.

Richard Russell: You Won't Recognize America By The End Of The Year

2010-05-19T12:26:00.005-05:00

Richard Russell, the famous writer of the Dow Theory Letters, has a chilling line in today's note:

Do your friends a favor. Tell them to "batten down the hatches" because there's a HARD RAIN coming. Tell them to get out of debt and sell anything they can sell (and don't need) in order to get liquid. Tell them that Richard Russell says that by the end of this year they won't recognize the country. They'll retort, "How the dickens does Russell know -- who told him?" Tell them the stock market told him.

He says to get out of all stocks but not gold stocks and get cash or gold preferably bullion.

Just as for years I asked, cajoled, insisted, threatened, demanded,
that my subscribers buy gold, I am now insisting, demanding, begging my subscribers to get OUT of stocks (including C and BYD, but not including golds) and get into cash or gold (bullion if possible).
If the two Averages violate their May 7 lows, I see a major crash as the outcome. Pul - leeze, get out of stocks now, and I don't give a damn whether you have paper losses or paper profits!

Trading in Gold and Silver

2010-05-16T17:35:00.003-05:00

When we think about trading in gold and silver today we usually think about the buying and selling of these metals for investment purposes in a regulated exchange setting and/or hopefully profits from stocks in mining companies etc. but not for the purchase of every day items like groceries

In years gone by gold and silver were often traded for other goods and services including food and drink. If Joe citizen had beef Jane citizen could bring in some silver and get a nice beef roast.

With the concern in financial markets, rising unemployment, government over spending, inflation and currency devaluation of recent times, people are looking for alternative means for trade in their everyday life. I often wondered when we would see the rebirth of trading gold and silver for everyday goods and necessities.

The video below makes me think that the rebirth of direct trading with gold and silver may have started

First Grocery Stores Begin To Accept Silver

Happy Prospecting and Happy Trading!

This post was made at www.goldsearch.blogspot.com by Robert Freeman

About the author: Robert Freeman is a full time professional prospector with over 20 years direct hands on experience in the field. He manages a prospecting and exploration company which provides mineral claims, mineral claim staking, prospecting services, field and logistical services, along with consulting property management and acquisition services to the mining industry. He founded or played a key role in the formation of several exploration companies and has created mineral exploration land packages in numerous regions of Canada for both public and private companies.

The Canadian Gold Exploration Hotspot is Manitoba

2010-04-30T16:47:00.003-05:00

The first question that comes to mind with a headline like this one is - Why should Manitoba be seen as a Hotspot for Gold Exploration in Canada? The answer can be found by doing a little due diligence on the area and in review of recent news from companies exploring in the province.

Over the last couple of years there have been numerous announcements of the high grade gold discoveries being made in Manitoba. Some of these new discoveries and the resulting ramp up in exploration in the Rice Lake Gold Camp was presented in the recent gold search post titled Gold in Manitoba - New gold camp emerging in the Rice Lake area

These recent gold discoveries due to their grade, size and frequency have "in my opinion" placed Manitoba among a select group of gold exploration camps (areas) in Canada and perhaps even worldwide. Most of these new discoveries have been made by one company, San Gold Corporation, and it can be said that they have nearly single handed been responsible for the rejuvenated gold exploration in region. The discoveries are large, high grade and more importantly they continue to be made.

The result of announcements of new high grade gold discoveries is that there has been a sizable increase in the number of companies now involved in gold exploration in Manitoba, there is a marked increase in the amount of exploration dollars being spent in the area, while there has been a recent increase in demand for mineral claims.

In recent times there have also been many news releases made by exploration companies relating to the acquisition of new or additional mineral properties in the province and numerous companies have now "locked up" prospective ground in the Rice Lake Gold Camp and other areas of Manitoba.

As the manager of a Prospecting and Exploration Service Company I can report that we have also witnessed an increased interest in acquiring mineral properties and prospecting services from numerous exploration companies.

Once we wade through recent news and begin to understand the significance I feel that it isn't a long shot to think that Manitoba is a gold exploration hotpot.

Happy Prospecting!

This post was made at www.goldsearch.blogspot.com by Robert Freeman

About the author: Robert Freeman is a full time professional prospector with over 20 years direct hands on experience in the field. He manages a prospecting and exploration company which provides mineral claims, mineral claim staking, prospecting services, field and logistical services, along with consulting property management and acquisition services to the mining industry. He founded or played a key role in the formation of several exploration companies and has created mineral exploration land packages in numerous regions of Canada for both public and private companies.

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Gold in Manitoba - New gold camp emerging in the Rice Lake area

2010-04-26T17:24:00.009-05:00

On Friday April 22 2010, San Gold Corporation made an announcement via a news release with the title

"San Gold Drills High Grade in New RL East Zone including 4.9 meters of 319 g/tonne".

Part of this news release reads as follows:

Dale Ginn, CEO of San Gold Corporation (SGR: TSX-V) (SGRCF: OTCQX) is pleased to report exceptionally encouraging results from underground exploration drilling following up on the recent discovery of multiple new zones beyond the eastern extremities of the Rice Lake mine (see press releases dated Jan 25 and March 31, 2010).

These zones, collectively known as RL East display remarkable widths as well as grade and are hosted within structures that trend upwards toward the high grade 007 zone near surface. Drill hole #28-10-53 cut 121 g/tonne (3.53 oz/ton) over 13.3 meters (44 ft) and included an extremely high grade segment of 319 g/tonne (9.30 oz/ton) over 4.9 m (15.9 ft) containing coarse visible gold. Drill hole #28-10-80 encountered 5 individual zones within a wider mineralized section of 50 meters (164 ft) grading 4.8 g/tonne (0.14 oz/ton).

Dale Ginn, CEO, also stated; “San Gold mine geologists have produced one of the most impressive intersections ever within Rice Lake. Taking into account that this is exploration drilling outside of known Rice Lake mine extents, these results are truly remarkable. The mining team’s efforts are demonstrating that this mineralized system is linked to our new surface zones and that our geological model produces results at depth as well as near surface.We look forward to closing this gap and taking a broader approach to a mineralized system that is fast becoming much larger than a collection of individual deposits.”

Full San Gold April 22, 2010 Press Release

San Gold has had additional and remarkable success in finding awesome gold deposits in "other" new reaches of the historic Rice Lake Mine and to the date the company has also discovered new rich gold deposits closer to surface. These near surface deposits include the Hinge Zones and 007 discoveries all of which returned high grade gold intersections from drilling. The Hinge zone discovery has already been developed into the latest mine and the company has also begun underground development towards the new 007 deposit. To get a better understanding of the spectacular gold discoveries made by San Gold in the last few go to their news page on their website http://www.sangoldcorp.com/index.php?id=55

Gold discoveries were first reported in the Rice Lake greenstone belt early in the 1900's and close to 2 million ounces have been extracted to date from mines of various sizes in the area. The new discoveries being made in recent times certainly indicate that much more gold exists in the region than has been mined to date. In fact the record pace at which new discoveries are being made and are being put into production, in my opinion, strongly indicates that we can expect to see many more ounces being "proved up" in the future.

From following the Rice Lake and San Gold developments, one thing is certainly clear to me - that the beliefs, efforts, dedication and years of hard work by the San Gold Executive Chairman, Mr Hugh Wynne ( local businessman / prospector) is paying off in golden colored spades. Mr Wynne played a key roll in assembling the land package, assets and professional team of what is today San Gold Corp, it can be said with confidence that Mr Wynne has also played an important part in shaping the future of the region and perhaps gold mining as whole in the Province of Manitoba. I feel strongly that Mr Wynne and the entire San Gold team should be nominated for high rewards and recognition at the next PDAC convention.

The Rice Lake Area and the South Eastern Manitoba Region in general has certainly not yet seen the exploration effort or expenditures in its history that its neighbor the Red Lake District of Ontario has seen, however there is strong evidence that it now can boost about grades that equal or exceed the best that the Red Lake Gold Camp has produced.

Just a short time ago on a visit throughout the Rice Lake greenstone belt I came to realize that at least six different companies are presently drilling or recently completed diamond drilling in the area. There may be more, but there at least six companies actively exploring for gold . San Gold is "chomping away" and continuing the largest drilling program in the history of the area while Strike Point Gold, Wildcat Exploration, Cougar Minerals, Bison Gold and EagleRidge Minerals Ltd have exploration programs ongoing or have recently completed drilling on properties in the area. San Gold and these other active companies are contributing the finances, resources and effort required to finally start unlocking the gold potential of the area.

There is good reason to believe that a new and exciting Gold Camp is now emerging for want of a better name I call it the "Rice Lake Gold Camp".

As a prospector I very much enjoy seeing the new gold camp develop.

Happy Prospecting

This post was made at www.goldsearch.blogspot.com by Robert Freeman

About the author: Robert Freeman is a full time professional prospector with over 20 years direct hands on experience in the field. He manages a prospecting and exploration company which provides mineral claims, mineral claim staking, prospecting services, field and logistical services, along with consulting property management and acquisition services to the mining industry. He founded or played a key role in the formation of several exploration companies and has created mineral exploration land packages in numerous regions of Canada for both public and private companies.

Mineral Propsecting Outlook 2010

2010-04-08T14:56:00.009-05:00

We never know for sure if any year will be good, bad or excellent for the prospector making a living. But there is information available and news to watch for that may help us get a better feeling for the business outlook. Staying in tune with the times and keeping up with the latest industry news and trends, has to play an important and ever increasing part in the prospecting business today. If one is serious about success we need to remain informed of trends and the opportunities that they could bring.

My thoughts on the 2010 outlook are presented below in short form.

As the demand for minerals increases so should the prospecting effort to locate promising discoveries that could lead to eventual deposits of economic importance. Increased demand for minerals often results in increased demand for new properties. This adds a stimulus to the prospecting profession and helps relight the dream of finding mineral showings of value or the next mine.

2010 should be a good year for the prospector that is seriously looking for a diversified mix of minerals including Rare Earth Elements, Precious Metals, Base Metals, and Industrial Minerals etc especially if he or she has a good portfolio of properties some or all of which may be of interest to larger exploration and mining companies.

With these changing times and technology advancements also comes increased opportunity for growth in the prospecting, exploration and mining fields especially for those folks that are able to search for and find minerals for which the demand is growing. Individuals and companies that can broaden their efforts to include a variety of target minerals should have a better opportunity for success.

While there is little doubt that the uncertain economic times of last year have had an effect upon the demand for new properties, there are indications that the demand is increasing. This can be seen in the press releases of numerous companies and announcements of new property purchases and or options. Rare Earth Element (REE) properties are becoming more of a focus and the demand for quality gold properties has also been on a steady increase. Let us not forget base metals, although maybe not as "sexy" to some there are strong indications that demand will remain strong.

Of course while we are looking into the future demand, we would do ourselves a disservice if we forget about industrial minerals such as magnesium or even aggregate deposits of value. Deposits of this category although far from being in the "stock market fashion or the latest buzz", are still very important to society and to economic advancement. Finding such deposits of good grade and tonnage certainly has and will always have value and can be very lucrative. Perhaps they are a harder nut to crack promotion wise and a harder sell to exploration companies, they are still a key resource to serious mining quarry companies and the eventual rewards of having one can certainly still be worthwhile.

Mineral Properties for Option - Gold - Lithium - Magnesium - Base Metals

The search for REE deposits has recently seen an upsurge as explorers begin to hedge their bets on the future demand for these types of minerals. Lithium or the 3 rd element as many refer to it is also the focus of increased attention.

Gold, Platinum group minerals, and silver are gathering serious attention once again due to potential shortages into the future and the recent increases in price for these metals.

Now that the spring and summer seasons are upon us, prospectors are once again increasing their efforts to examine new areas and revisit past mineral minds as is the tradition. With the new season and increased demand this should be a good year for the prospector.

This post is from Prospecting- The Search For New Gold

Happy Prospecting! Always do your home work and due diligence, learn to sell Popsicles to the people that want them, and be ready to fit the right buyer with the right property. Keep your powder dry and your axe sharp.

About the author: Robert Freeman is a full time professional prospector with over 20 years direct hands on experience in the field. He manages a prospecting and exploration company which provides mineral claims, mineral claim staking, prospecting services, field and logistical services, along with consulting property management and acquisition services to the mining industry. He founded or played a key role in the formation of several exploration companies and has created mineral exploration land packages in numerous regions of Canada for both public and private companies.

Going for the Gold with a Vision, a Backpack, a few Tools, Hard Work and Will Power

2010-03-28T00:14:00.005-05:00

They say that prospecting gets in your blood, your thoughts and your dreams. Some claim that it is a profession that sets off a certain something that stimulates the Nero - receptors in the brains of otherwise normal individuals, making them fascinated and near obsessed with the idea of exploration and discovery.

While I can accept a little of that point of view and I have witnessed firsthand the antics of people with the “fever”, I feel that the naysayers are certainly not totally right. However, they may also not be totally wrong. There have been cases were a person falls in love with a certain property or a certain location, to the point were “bad ground” gets “loved to death”, usually at considerable expense of time and money and with much frustration.

The old saying “Gold is Where You Find It” can be very true, however carried to excess, some folks think they can find it anywhere and take longer to realize that where they are looking isn’t necessarily where the gold got emplaced and thus they have not found it. Gold of course is everywhere in minute amounts however the occurrence of gold in economic quantities is another matter. Discovering gold deposits of a quantity suitable for mining is not something that happens regularly, in fact many gold or other mineral discoveries never become mines. Often it takes years before even “high grade” discoveries become mines.

The would-be prospector has to realize a simple fact, if minerals were available everywhere in commercial minable quantities they would be worth far less and there would be little stimulus to go find the next new mine. Once we accept the reality that we need to look at many rocks before we find a big discovery, we can focus and narrow down our search to areas where the odds are better.

Don’t get me wrong, successful prospectors experience success because the love their work and most will tell you that they learnt the hard way not to love a property to death, especially a property with slim chance for discovery. The trick is education, an education often obtained from the school of hard knocks, an education that empowers them to know when to move on to another target without selling the shop to explore the first one.

Over the course of time, more than 20 years, I have prospected both as a hobby and as a professional, often counting on it for my livelihood and today as my career. More than once I made the mistake of over exploring a property and in the early years I spent more than my year’s wages on a property that was nicely located but sadly of little economic value. You could say that I got knocked in the head and the pocketbook at the school of hard knocks.

Perhaps by now you are asking; so where is the good and exciting part in all this? That is a question that each prospector will have to answer in his or her own way. I can only speak for myself and my experiences. I have been prospecting full-time or near full-time for the last 10years and part-time for many years prior to that, part-time to me was spending more than half my time in the field each year while working at another job or my other business. Some of my friends still call me one of those guys with highly stimulated nerve endings, but none of them continue to doubt the value of what I do.

I remember having only a Vision, a Backpack and a few Tools and relying on my hard work and willpower to first prove that I had what was needed to become a prospector and then prove that I could succeed in being one. Today the lessons I learnt in the hard knock school and the experience I gained, combined with some luck have created my career and have allowed me to live a life that I enjoy. There are still hard – times and there will always be new hurdles to jump, however those hard – times are fewer and the hurdles do not seem as high.

Recently I have witnessed the rapid advancement of a mineral exploration company that I helped to create and helped to provide with mineral properties. This was a major milestone for me and it meant the accomplishment of a vision I long held. I have also expanded my business to provide numerous companies with prospecting services and mineral properties of value at a professional level.

Over the years I have also staked, sold and optioned a “profitable” amount of mineral claims in many areas of Canada and I have made worthwhile discoveries due in part to remembering the lessons I learned early on.

Today I was in the field staking another mineral claim in Manitoba and enjoying teaching my girl how to use and axe to blaze a trail. So you see, once I got over the “fever” I learned that I needed to do research on the discovery history of an area, the geology, the geography, the infrastructure available and other features before I sold the shop to explore it in a serious manner.

Happy Prospecting

Rice lake Area Manitoba - Gold Exploration Continues

2010-03-21T17:01:00.000-05:00

The Rice Lake Gold Camp situated in the southeast region of Manitoba, is one of the areas that has recently witnessed the discovery of exceptional new gold deposits. These new discoveries are large in scope and are being made with a truly amazing frequency. Back in January I blogged on the gold exploration and new discoveries taking place in the Rice Lake area of Manitoba. That post was titled High Grade Gold Discoveries Continue in Manitoba.

Since that time several companies have made announcements of increased exploration work at properties located in the Rice Lake Greenstone Belt, while San Gold Corp the active gold mining company in the region has continued to advance new discoveries made on it's Bissett area properties.

On March 18th 2010 EagleRidge Minerals Ltd announced that it would commence diamond drilling on it's wholly owned Hannes project.

An Exert from the EagleRidge Press Release.

EagleRidge Minerals Begins Drill Program on the Hannes Gold Project in Southeast Manitoba

March 18th, 2010 - Pinawa, Manitoba

EagleRidge Minerals Ltd. (“ERM” or the “Company”, or “EagleRidge”) is pleased to announce that it has started a 1000 metre drilling program on the Hannnes Gold Project in the Rice Lake greenstone belt of southeast Manitoba.

The Hannes Gold Project consists of a claim package of 9403 hectares of claims in the western portion of the Rice Lake greenstone belt approximately 30 kilometres west of Bissett. The Company completed a Phase 1 exploration program during the summer of 2009 of field mapping, prospecting and geochemistry on the southern and western portion of the claim package where three gold showings were uncovered. Best gold values graded up to 6.1g/t. The field work in 2009 covered one third (1/3) of the property. The remainder of the property will be mapped and sampled during the 2010 summer exploration season. Further details are available from the Eagleridge website and from previous news releases on the Hannes Project.

A 1000 metre drill program will be carried out on the Gnomes Shear Zone and the Beaver Pond Zone. Drilling will be conducted by Bodnar Drilling of Manitoba using NQ-sized core under the direct supervision of Tim Tuba, P, Geo, (Exploration Manager, EagleRidge Minerals Ltd). Historical exploration in the region by other companies on the Gnomes Shear has traced the shear for 1200 metres with a thickness of 10-20 metres. Historically the best grades from surface channel sampling of the veins were 0.32 oz/ton Au over 3.7 metres and 0.72 oz/ton Au over 1.2 metres. The shear remains open on either direction and at depth. All past drilling was of a shallow nature. There is no record of drilling on the Beaver Pond Showing.

The purpose of this exploration program is to drill test the same structure but at a deeper depth. The greenstone belt region as a whole has benefitted from deeper drill holes which have encountered better gold mineralization at depth from that which was previously known from surface. It is expected that the drilling will be completed and results returned to the Company by the second week in April. On completion of the drill program, an independent technical report will be issued by the Company.

Click Here for full EagleRidge March 18th News release in PDF format

Happy Prospecting

Selling Gold Jewelry

2010-02-05T03:57:00.002-06:00

Knowing the Value of Gold Jewelry Pieces

With the present high gold prices, many people are considering selling gold jewelry to raise some cash. While this is not a bad idea from broken or unserviceable jewelry, it may not be such a good idea for all your stuff. You might be better off selling unwanted pieces as jewelry, rather than sending it to the melting pot.

If you sell gold jewelry for its scrap value, you'll lose much of its retail value, perhaps 75% or more. The scrap price is based on the value of the metal alone and doesn't reflect the craftsmanship or any aesthetic or antique value, let alone emotional attachment you or family members may have to the piece. It’s a good idea to have it appraised before you sell it for scarp.

Of course some jewelry pieces like one earring with a lost mate or broken rings parts of bracelets etc. are pretty much scarp anyway and probably can only be sold as such minus any valuable stones of course. Garden variety class rings and wedding bands are sometimes better sold as scarp.

The price of gold is based on a troy ounce of 24-karat, or pure, gold. A troy ounce contains 31.1 grams, or 20 pennyweights. If the spot price of gold is $1,100 USD per ounce then 1 gram of 24 karat gold is worth $1,100 / 31.1 grams or $35.37 USD. Gold prices change often so use the handy chart on this page to check updated spot prices.

Gold less than 24K is discounted proportionately:

18K is 75% pure gold, 14K is 58.3%, and 10K is 41.7% gold.
Gold jewellery of 10K or more will have a karat stamp, you this to get an idea of the content and value of gold in a certain piece.

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Selling and Buying Gold Coins

2010-02-05T03:10:00.001-06:00

Actual Gold in the form of metal is an investment that's both tangible and liquid. You can hold it in your hands; keep it in a safe deposit box or wherever you desire. Gold can be bought or sold easily and has been for hundreds of years.

Gold coins like the Canadian Maple Leaf, the Krugerrand, the America Gold eagle etc. can usually be bought and sold by going to a bank. Gold coins are one of the most popular forms of gold bullion available to the retail buyer.

These gold coins are made mostly or entirely of gold. For Instance, the Canadian Gold Maple Leaf coins are the world's most popular pure gold coin. Since their introduction in 1979, over 20 million troy ounces have been sold. As the first bullion coin to achieve the heightened standard of 9999 fine, the Gold Maple Leaf is available in five weights from one-twentieth of an ounce to one troy ounce. The Canadian mint our bullion products can be purchased through banks, coin dealers, foreign currency exchange offices, and brokerage houses worldwide.

Because these gold coins have face values they are money and thus can be bought and sold through banks etc. Obviously you do not want to sell a $50 1 oz Canadian gold Maple leaf for $50; you will sell it or buy it for the value of one ounce of gold at the time plus or minus handling fees.

Prices of gold and silver bullion products are based on international market rates which vary daily, as well as supply and demand. Be prepared for a reasonable premium to be charged over the daily spot quotations to cover manufacturing, transportation and distribution costs.

Getting a return of investments in gold follows the age old practice “ buy low sell high” meaning if you have gold that cost you say $700 per ounce 2 years ago and you sell today at say $1,100, you stand to make a $400 per ounce profit, in simple terms.

Remember in order to sell bullion coins minted with face values you do not have to send them to a scarp gold dealer. Take them to your bank first and get an opinion. Also, if you have rare or collector coins have, those evaluated by a good reputable coin dealer to get an idea of their value which could be much higher than the gold content.

Coming soon Selling gold Jewelry

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Mineral Prospecting in Newfoundland - North America

2010-01-30T01:36:00.002-06:00

There is a great book called “Once upon a Mine” available online. The colourful history of mineral prospecting, exploration and mining in the pre-confederation days of the Colony – Republic of Newfoundland is presented in the pages of this book.

Incidents and happenings described in “Once upon a Mine” make for very entertaining reading at the very least. What the book actually brings to life is the true nature of early prospecting and hardnosed mine owners. It talks in much detail about hardships of early mining encountered at the hands of outside interests and brings to life the scams, conflicts, the greed and wheeling and dealing that took place in the pursuit of properties. This account of prospecting history also provides good insight into the nature of some of the best copper deposits discovered and how they became successful mines.

The history of prospecting in North America goes back longer in time than is generally recognized. In 1576 Sir Martin Frobisher examined the shores of what is assumed to have been Newfoundland's Trinity Bay , where he found a shiny heavy stone. This was in all likelihood Pyrite. Pyrite in that area is locally known as Catalina Stone after the name of the town where a great deal of pyrite can be found.

Up until 1949 Newfoundland was not a province of Canada. It was a part of the British Empire. That is why this post has Newfoundland – North America in its title. The overall history of Newfoundland is one that requires much more space that this blog permits. Suffice to say that it is a region of North America with remarkable history going back over 500 years.

I digress so back to the book. Here are some quotes from the book:

“Anthony Parkhurst returned to England in 1578 with pieces of copper and iron ore from the St. John's and Bell Island areas. On the strength of the Frobisher and Parkhurst discoveries, Sir Humphrey Gilbert took a Saxon ore refiner named Daniel of Buda with him to Newfoundland in 1583. Daniel, an energetic individual, retrieved an array of copper, iron, lead and silver ores from the Avalon Peninsula. Unfortunately, both Daniel and the samples disappeared a few months later in a shipwreck off Sable Island. A contemporary expedition member hinted that Gilbert lamented the loss of the ores more than that of the ship and men. Be that as it may, the hapless Sir Gilbert mourned but a scant 11 days before his own vessel sank north of the Azores on the voyage back to England.”

We of the well-informed today can scarcely appreciate the dubious view that most mining speculators from a century ago had of Newfoundland. Nor can we in this scientific era fully understand the jaundiced opinion that laymen had of geologists, mineralogists and their like. Prospectors were generally regarded as more eccentric than enterprising: one Scottish gold-seeker in Newfoundland was described to St. John's authorities in the 1860s as being a "poor demented creature who went about hammering at the cliffs but otherwise he appeared to be quite harmless." I do not think we are directly related- personal comment, R Freeman

James P. Howley, director of the Geological Survey of Newfoundland from 1883 to 1917, wrote in 1898 that:

"In the earliest stages of the Newfoundland mining industry, all sorts of drawbacks had to be encountered and overcome...mineralogical knowledge of the country, impossibility of procuring skilled labour except from outside...but beyond all a blind and unreasonable prejudice...which amounted almost to a prohibition of any attempt at mining enterprise...."

Howley, it seems realized that more than the elements where interfering in prospecting of the Island in what was then - a brave new world.

I present a section below describing the first real mining success in the new land, exactly as it appears in the book:

The overwhelming success of the Tilt Cove mine changed all this. As news spread of the immense profits being made by Charles Bennett and Smith McKay, prospectors and mining entrepreneurs began to converge upon Notre Dame Bay. When Bennett became Newfoundland's anti-confederate premier in 1870 and on 25 April 1872 abolished mining royalties completely, even the most reluctant speculators were stirred into action.

The subsequent rush for mining claims in Notre Dame Bay continued unabated for several years. Once an experienced mine expert staked a given property the surrounding territory was immediately blanketed by the claims of people knowing nothing of geology or minerals. Some claims were staked on non-existent land while others with alleged coastal frontage turned out upon survey to be situated miles inland.

Thus began the Notre Dame Bay copper boom. It peaked in the 1880s, died out with World War I and left in its wake over two dozen copper mines, the combined output of which transformed Newfoundland briefly into the world's sixth largest copper producer. During the boom years, literally scores of mining companies sprung up in and beyond Newfoundland for the sole purpose of wresting ore from the rocks of Notre Dame Bay. Local newspapers reported mineral discoveries with such frequent and cheerful exaggeration that, reading them, one has the feeling that mining ran a close second to weather in daily conversation.

A lot of those things described above sometimes happen today in the industry. Some remain the same; the rush to get in on the action when a new discovery is made, is one of them.

Here is a snippet about Betts Cove, a successful high grade copper mine discovered and developed. Much later it was also reveiled that the Betts Cove deposits also held gold (as did others). You have to read the book to find out that interesting story.

What Betts Cove lacked in refreshments it made up for in 'copper fever'. Copper formed the main topic of conversation. Everyone knew someone who had found a deposit guaranteed to become a mine. Prospectors wandered about town with ore-filled pockets willing, for a price, to conduct people to the original outcrop. Betts Cove even had a dog that retrieved pieces of discarded copper ore. He occasionally disappeared into the hills for days, leaving villagers convinced that he prospected for copper. Their assumption was not as far-fetched as it may appear, for some modern Swedish mining companies use specially trained German Shepherds to smell out sulphide minerals.

What is true in many mining regions is also true in Newfoundland and Labrador, the best place to find a new mine is next to an old one. To that effect many of the older mining areas of Newfoundland are experiencing considerable new exploration activity, some with excellent success.

This is getting long so here is the link where you can read the book, online at your leisure, thanks to the Wendy Martin and also others including Heritage Newfoundland and The Canadian Institute Of Mining And Metallurgy. It is worthwhile to check this out because it is a factual yet entertaining history of prospecting and mining in Newfoundland.

Once upon a Mine – Link to Full Contents

Happy reading and keep on propsecting!

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Of Gold and Dollars

2010-01-22T06:15:00.002-06:00

While browsing on YouTube I happened upon a video that covers the subject of Gold Verses the Us Dollar. The Author says that this is the first of several videos to show what is really happening to the economy of the United States and why the country is in a lot of trouble financially.

Here is the video embedded below. Have a look and of course form your own opinion.

It's early morning here and so far there are some indications that the price of gold may rise some today. Yesterday it was down below the $1200 per ounce mark again. But hey $1200 per ounce isn't so bad if you can get it out of the ground for say less than $600 / oz or lower. Placer and hard rock miners that have good grades and low production costs still stand to do very well producing gold.

Since 2000 gold has risen by near $600 per ounce while the supply seems to have dropped some, that should bode well for the months and years ahead.

As Always

happy Prospecting

High Grade Gold Discoveries Continue in Manitoba

2010-01-20T20:33:00.005-06:00

Being a prospector with a keen interest in Manitoba Canada and the search for gold in the province, I spend time keeping up with the exploration news in the province. The Rice Lake Gold Camp situated in the southeast region of Manitoba, is one of the areas that has recently witnessed the discovery of exceptional new gold deposits. These new discoveries are large in scope and are being made with a truly amazing frequency.

My past posts about the new Manitoba gold rush include Rice Lake Manitoba is alive with gold explorers posted on Sept 19, 2009 and Spectacular High Grade Gold Found In Manitoba, posted on Nov 23, 2009. The exploration work talked about in those posts continues. Recently the area has seen considerable more exploration activity that has lead to even more new gold discoveries.

San Gold Corporation, a Manitoba gold Miner and Explorer, has today, again released news of Impressive gold exploration results that include gold values of 1.07 oz/ton over a length of 40 feet obtained from diamond core drilling. At the same time, San Gold’s Rice Lake Mine continues to evolve with Higher Production Grades and Significant New High Grade Discoveries – including mining face samples of 909 g/t over 3m (26.5 oz/t over 10 ft). See San Gold press Release of Jan 20, 2010.

This news follows that published previously by San Gold on Nov 23, 2009 where they release news on drill core assays of 1787 g/tonne Gold over 2.1 meters at their New “007” Discovery. See San Gold press release of Nov 23 2009 for full details.

Discovery of gold deposits with values like those reported by San Gold Corp not only make for good mining, the numbers are such, that one would think that there is potential to create a new Gold Camp, or in this case, greatly enlarge an existing one.

The gold grades reported out of Rice Lake remind me of the discoveries and grades that made the Red Lake Ontario Gold Camp famous and lead to the discovery of gold deposits that created one of the highest grade and lowest cost gold mines in Canada. Considering that the Red Lake Gold Camp is just across the boarder, it isn’t a far reach to think that similar rocks in Manitoba have equally good discovery potential.

So what does this news mean to a prospector? For starters it means simply that not all the good stuff has been found and that less successful past exploration work doesn’t necessarily mean new gold deposits cannot be found. Heck in the case of San Gold past operators may have walked or driven over the areas of the new high grade finds, yet never unlocked the gold.

During the past few years my partner and I have staked mineral claims in and around the Rice Lake Greenstone Belt and I consider myself to be fortunate to have done so. Some of those properties have been sold to other better equipped exploration companies and exploration programs have recently commenced. This of course is great for a prospector; the claims get worked at a much larger scale, allowing us to work a few claims of our own.

Happy Prospecting

2009 the best year yet for gold companies

2010-01-09T19:44:00.003-06:00

2009 turned out to be a great year for gold companies. Gold experienced a spectacular rise in price and financing activity was up more than 6 times that of 2008. 2008 was a dismal year in the industry.

According to RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Curran, during 2009 there were 151 separate deals that raised over $18.6-billion for North American gold companies, that he says was the most ever raised in a 12 month period.

Mr. Curran also broke down where the money went and what it would be used for. Not surprisingly, more than two-thirds of the cash went to larger-cap gold producers ( Barrick Gold Corp. alone raised more than $5-billion to terminate its hedge book).

But the small-cap companies had plenty to smile about as well, and Mr. Curran is most interested in their financing activities. He calculated that they raised $6.36-billion in 141 deals, proving that there was plenty of money available for exploration (54% of those transactions were earmarked specifically for exploration). There were many small deals, as 58% of the transactions involved amounts less than $25-million.

But while most of the small-cap transactions were related to exploration, construction rose to the top when it came to how proceeds are used. It accounted for about 43% of that total, while exploration was 20%.

Smaller amounts were earmarked for feasibility studies, investment and acquisitions. However, the largest deals in the small-cap space involved acquisitions.

Link to story at Kelowna.com

2009 was also a great year for gold discoveries with many companies announcing news of new finds, increased resources and/or commencement of mining operations. 2009 also brought news of takeovers and acquisitions of smaller companies by the larger players.

Given the continual uneasiness in the worldwide economy and the potential for further complications, 2010 could turn out to be even better.

Happy Prospecting!

Gold in Manitoba – Where to find it

2010-01-08T23:13:00.005-06:00

The easiest way to find Gold in Manitoba is to visit a mine. But chances are that the owners will not want you poking around on their claims and they will most certainly not allow you to take away any gold – that is unless they let you buy it! None the less there is gold at the mines in Bissett, Lynn Lake, Herb Lake, Snow Lake, and in the discoveries near Red Sucker, Beresford and Island Lakes and at other locations. Gold that has been found by prospecting, plenty of work and in most cases has cost considerable sums of money to explore in detail and develop.

Although you cannot take gold from a known claim or mine, you can still learn something about how to find some of your own by studying how others have found gold and using what you have learned when you go prospecting.

If you are determined to prospect for gold, then the best place to start is by reading. There are publicly available Mineral Occurrence Files, geological and geochemistry information, past mineral claim work assessment files, company press releases, publicly available files on geophysical surveys and a host of other data available that you can become familiar with to use in guiding your activities. You also need to obtain a prospecting license, without it no claims for you.

Finding a minable gold deposit is not easy, while there is good information to help guide you, there are no sign posts that say dig here! Your success is going to be measured by your work effort and by your savvy, no work no zeal no gold.

In the most productive Gold areas of the province you will have to go out in the bush and stake a claim on ground not already claimed, and you do so by physically erecting marker posts and making a boundary through the bush, across bogs and swamp and over rock outcrops. That’s how you get a mineral claim in those areas. Important: Do not try and stake one where there is already a claim, that don’t work and no one is going to allow you to stake ground they have in good standing, thus before you start staking do your homework and find out if the area is already claimed or not.

Once you have a registered claim you have to do work on it and start looking for gold or other minerals. Just because you have a mineral claim does not mean you are rich nor those it mean your claim is good for anything other than a pasture for moose. You need to go out there, use your knowledge or that of someone experienced that you hire, and prospect the claim. Look for something good and perhaps find it.

Most, if not all Gold recovered in Manitoba, is not of the variety that you can obtain from panning in a stream. In Manitoba you are in hard rock country, meaning anything mined to date on a significant scale was found in rock and not as nuggets, dust or flour gold mixed into stream or bench sands. Gold in the province is typically of a lode type found in veins or as by-product in base metal deposits.

Your best chances of finding Gold anywhere is being able to obtain a claim next to a past mine or a recent gold discovery. Obtaining a claim in such an area is no easy task, because normally the surrounding land is well staked and claimed by others.

You could if your funds permit and after careful study and advice, explore for gold where no one else is working. This you can do as a hobby and providing you know your geology, you can prospect without staking a claim until you find something of value. After testing then stake a claim.

Prospecting means among other things, taking samples and having the same assayed to determine if the rock holds anything of value. Plain old rocks to a prospector are a pain in the behind; rocks that have demonstrated content of some mineral are an entirely different matter. The prospector loves ore grade (good mineral content) in his/her rocks, however most rocks do not favor the prospector. Finding good gold showings is not a common occurrence.

Yet it has been and is still being done. Chance favors the prepared mind and hard work can pay off. Remember if it was easy everyone would be doing it and gold could be worth a lot less.

Happy prospecting!

Precious metals, prices up overall in 2009

2010-01-02T17:24:00.001-06:00

Over the last two years we have seen both up swings and down swings in gold prices from month to month and day to day. The good news is that overall the price finished on the upside.

The average London gold price for each quarter of 2008 was:

2008 Q-1 - $ 923.60
2008 Q-2 - $ 896.15
2008 Q-3 - $ 870.90
2008 Q-4 - $ 798.39

Overall 2008 average price was $872.26

The average London gold price for each quarter of 2009 was:

2009 Q-1 - $ 907.805
(An increase of 13.704% from the last quarter of 2008)
2009 Q-2 - $ 921.087
(An increase of 1.463% from the first 2009 quarter)
2009 Q-3 - $ 959.924
(An increase of 4.217% from the second 2009 quarter)
2009 Q-4 - $ 1,100.096
(An increase of 14.602% from the third 2009 quarter)

The overall average London gold price for 2009 was $ 972.228 which is an increase of 11.46% from the 2008 average of $872.26 per ounce.

The final gold price at the end of Quarter 4 of 2009 was (spot-market) $1,096.20 an ounce. The final closing price saw gold end the year at a gain of $218 over 2008. However the average was just over $972 for the year. During 2009 Gold also hit an all time high of above $1,220 per ounce on December 3 2009

Other precious metals also staged equally impressive gains after the 2008 deep decline. Platinum rose a record 58.7 percent and palladium was up 220 percent on improving economic conditions, as well as hope for a boost in physical demand from new U.S. exchange traded funds expected to launch soon. Silver also jumped by a record 49.1 percent.

Spectacular High Grade Gold Found In Manitoba

2009-11-23T11:48:00.001-06:00

San Gold Corp. A Manitoba based Gold Mining and Exploration Company today reported the discovery of a new high-grade gold occurrence. The spectacular discovery, made by surface diamond drilling has been christened the 007 zone.

San Gold company CEO Dale Ginn reports that drill hole CD-09-007 encountered 1,787.7 grams per tonne gold (52.2 ounces per ton) over 2.1 metres (6.9 feet)
This deposit is located approximately 600 metres to the southeast of the new Hinge mine that was recently put into production by the company. The Hinge mine is proving to be a high grade mine with low production costs.

Dale Ginn, chief executive officer of San Gold, stated: "Our exploration team, led by Bill Ferreira, has made its fourth near-surface, high-grade discovery in close proximity to our mill in the past 18 months, and its third discovery this year. Hole No. 007 is the highest-grade intersection that I can recall in the Rice Lake belt, rivaling the best holes ever drilled in the neighboring Red Lake camp and certainly eclipses anything we have drilled to date in the Hinge zone. This discovery is again testimony to the solid and unique geological thinking that our exploration team has undertaken, as well as a credit to the time-tested success that drilling near past and producing mines brings."

San Gold Corp is indeed contributing awesome results in the new Manitoba gold rush. The Rice Lake mine area is now being called the Golden Fairway.

Full story at this link to the San Gold Website

Happy prospecting

They are going gold prospecting in record numbers

2009-09-24T19:45:00.004-05:00

The courier.com.au is running a story today with the title “New Gold Fortune Hunt Is On”.

This gold rush is taking place about 158 years after the first would be prospectors rushed in masses to the Ballarat's goldfields. Similar to the American and Canadian gold rushes of old, it was the appeal and the potential payoff that caused people for all walks of life to take a gamble for gold in Ballarat's goldfields.

Today with gold hovering around $1000 usd per once the number of prospectors heading to the region to try their luck has reached a high. It seems that the gold pan is being replaced by high tech metal detectors, some costing over $6,000 each, but the appeal of finding a few ounces or more still remains the same.

Ballarat's Mining Exchange Gold Shop owner Cordell Kent said the number of prospectors heading to the region to try their luck has reached a high.

"We are seeing prospectors on a daily basis," he said.

"A lot of local people are out prospecting but we are also seeing people outside the Ballarat region heading up into our gold fields."

"You could say we are 158 years into a continuous gold rush. It spikes quite often but there's always more interest when the price is up."

Mr Kent said though it required patience, gold prospecting could provide a lucrative pastime.

"We are blessed in Victoria with a lot of Crown land that has historic gold fields on them, so there's still a lot of surface gold to be found.
"We have had people who have found quite substantial dollar amounts of gold," he said.

$1,000 dollar gold is generating renewed interest in serious gold mining and exploration efforts around the world, from big name companies, so there is little wonder why both experienced and novice prospectors are trying their hand at finding some of the wonder metal.

The media continues to bring word of similar renewed prospecting activity in California, Nevada, the Yukon, Alaska and other goldfields in different parts of the world. It seems that Gold hasn’t lost its luster or its appeal, now with the rise in value; the metal is becoming sexier to more people.

South Australia-based Minelab Metal Detectors regional general manager Ian Aitken said the reinvigorated gold rush had contributed to a six- to eight-week delay in prospectors getting metal detectors, which cost $6150.

"It has been extraordinary, right through this year there has been high demand," he said.

"Once it (gold) kicked over the $1000 mark and kept going upwards, we experienced quite a high demand.

Like Mr Kent, Mr Aitken said once equipped, prospectors could gain substantial wealth.

"A lot of prospectors go to Western Australia for the winter and return for the summer," he said.

"There are a huge number of keen hobbyists, who can come home with five ounces of gold for their trouble."

The reliance upon and demand for gold detectors is interesting. We have to avoid thinking that they are a magic wand to riches. A good detector can help you find it, but it is usually also going to take hard work, sweat, a shovel and a gold pan or some other mechanical means for you to get the good pay dirt out of the ground, so that needs to be accounted for, when one heads for the gold.

The way I have this figured, for equipment, the grubstake and time it’s probably fair to say that one needs to count on a decent prospecting setup as being a $10,000 or more investment, if you are serious about going into the wilds (that have gold) and providing you have the time for 30 days a trip. Then getting 5 or more ounces a trip would not be too bad even better if it were 3 or 4 times a year.

Finding 5 ounces in a few days isn’t what normally happens; you just can’t walk along and pick the stuff up, so if you desire a good amount of ounces be prepared for more than a few days and be equipped, but above all go where gold is known to occur.

This is where the rubber hits the road, as they say; the allure of near immediate riches does stimulate us into action; however that often wears off and sometimes quickly. It is the willingness to “stick with it and work it” that has always paid the highest rewards.

Yet going out for a few days and getting some gold dust or nuggets for your troubles is a great hobby and a memory builder, and that can be very valuable.

Link to story referenced.

As always happy prospecting!

It Pays to keep looking, when its high grade you want

2009-09-23T21:32:00.001-05:00

On sept 23 2009, HudBay Minerals (HBM.TO)reported a high grade drill intercept of gold at 13.35 grams per tonne, silver at 27.98 grams a tonne, and copper at 5.33% over a 34.54-metre (113.32-foot) length of drill core at its Lalor deposit in Manitoba. Drilling encountered this copper and gold at a lower depth than the zinc and gold zones it had previously found at the deposit.

HudBay first discovered zinc at Lalor two years ago, and has since encountered what could be significant gold deposits deeper down. That would indicate that it certainly does pay to continue exploring.

"The copper and gold intersection in (the) hole is among the best I have seen in nearly 40 years in the mining business and the new copper-gold zone may be very significant," Chief Executive Peter Jones said in a statement.

Full Story

Keep on Prospecting!

Rice Lake Manitoba is alive with gold explorers.

2009-09-19T06:38:00.002-05:00

Recent news from several mining and exploration companies clearly demonstrates that the search for new gold has ramped up in the Rice lake Greenstone Belt of Manitoba. Over the last few weeks there have been news releases of new gold discoveries, joint venture exploration projects, diamond drilling projects, mining claim acquisitions and new exploration work taking place throughout the region. At least six different companies have made recent press releases all of which contain exciting news of rejuvenated gold exploration.

The Rice lake region of Southeast Manitoba is an old gold mining camp that has sprung new life. Starting from the original discoveries in the early 1900’s and leading up to the new high grade discoveries being made today, history will show the region to be an important source of gold.

Today’s new Manitoba Gold Rush was triggered when San Gold Corp, a junior exploration and mining company based in Manitoba, reopened the historic San Antonio mine and discovered and put into production two other new mines. The company has had remarkable success at discovering new high grade gold deposits, virtually on the door step of their mine and milling complex, now called the Rice lake mine. Their exploration achievements are many, including discovery of the near surface high grade Hinge Zone and related deposits and rich new ore zones in the historic mine.

San Gold Corp, Strike point Gold, WildCat Exploration, Cougar Minerals, EagleRidge Minerals and Bison Gold have all made recent press releases concerning exploration activities within the region.

With this type of activity the rush appears to be well underway, proving once again that innovative thinking combined with modern tools can help unlock the hidden riches in historic gold camps. Results from the Rice Lake Belt today, closely parallel those obtained during the revitalization of the Red Lake Ontario region that occurred not so long ago. Red lake is home to one of the World’s richest gold mines, the Red lake mine owned by Goldcorp.

Websites of companies active in the Rice lake area with recent press releases.

San Gold Corp

Bison Gold Inc

Cougar Minerals Corp

EagleRidge Minerals Ltd

Wildcat Exploration Ltd

Strike Point Gold Inc.

There are numerous other companies and private individuals actively exploring the region. To all a great good well done!

Lets go out and prospect - Happy Rock Hounding!

What is Gold ?

2009-09-09T08:26:00.000-05:00

That's easy to answer, it's one of the more important metals that we prospectors look for? It's part of the prospectors dream and we always try to chase it out of where it hides. We all know that gold is valuable and important, but sometimes we need a little reminder of just how great a metal Gold really is.

Here are some interesting facts about Gold.

The properties and uses of the metal gold.

Chemical symbol: Au

Atomic number: 79

Atomic weight: 196.967

Specific gravity: 19.3 (Twice as heavy as lead; 1 cubic foot weighs over half a
ton.)

Hardness: 2.5 to 3 on the Mohs hardness scale

Tensile strength: 19,000 pounds per square inch

Melting point: 1,945oF

Boiling point: 5,378oF

- Face centered-cubic crystalline structure.

- Most malleable and ductile of all metals.

- Inert, therefore does not corrode. (Referred to as a noble metal.)

- Good conductor of electricity.

- One ounce of gold can be stretched into a wire more than 40 miles long.

- Gold can be worked into a layer measuring 1 millionth of an inch.

- There are certain produced acid and alkaline compounds that will dissolve gold; the best known is aqua-regia, a potent combination of hydrochloric and nitric acids.

Gold is one of the earliest metals known and used by humans. It resists corrosion and chemical interaction. It will not disintegrate when exposed to oxygen, water, salt, or any other naturally-occurring material. Gold’s durability accounts for the almost perfect condition of coins and artifacts fashioned from it thousands of years ago.

Gold is used for investment purposes and jewelry however it's most important uses are in computers, weaponry and aerospace. It is used where consistent, reliable performance under all conditions is essential. The electronics industry has tried to find substitute metals and alloys, but gold’s exceptional resistance to corrosion and tarnish is still unequaled.

Happy Prospecting!

Searching for $1000 Gold

2009-09-07T23:02:00.003-05:00

Higher gold prices are something that all gold prospectors wish to see. Gold fetching $1,000 per once is much better than say $600. For the serious prospector getting a higher value for his or her gold usually ranks as high on the dream list as finding a good lode of the stuff.

Lately due to the uneasiness in stock markets and economies, more and more people appear to be seeking refuge in gold as a investment safety net. This and other factors such as possible supply shortages have caused the price of gold to rise to high levels, excellent prices compared to a few years ago.

The increasing price situation is good for the mining companies and prospectors alike. While some folks predict gold will reach $1,200 per once in the next year or so,which would be great, however rather that happens or not there is still reason to be happy at today's prices.

Today Reuters is now carrying a story titled

RPT-PRECIOUS-Gold futures hit $1,000/oz as investors seek refuge

Here is an exert and link to that story.

By Chikako Mogi

TOKYO, Sept 8 (Reuters) - U.S. gold futures hit a six-month
high of $1,000 and spot gold also rose to six-month high on
Tuesday as the dollar's weakness, concerns about the
sustainability of the global economic recovery and worries
about inflation underpinned sentiment.

Some market players were cautious about prices sustaining
$1,000, however, saying the rally had been driven by
speculators and gold was an expensive buy in historical terms.

Futures have topped $1,000 nine times -- three times this
year and six last year, including a record $1,033.90. Spot
prices have risen above $1,000 just four times - once in
February and three times in March 2008, when they hit a record
$1,030.80.

"Futures were always going to lead the way above $1,000, so
spot can't be far behind. Gold's rising price is due to
uncertainty all the way from personal investors right through
to institutions," said Sandra Close, an analyst for gold
research group Surbiton Associates.

"There are questions out there over the health of
economies, where interest rates are going. All that encourages
gold hoarding. There's potential to see the price go even
higher," she said.

Spot gold XAU= rose as high as $997.90, its highest since
February, when it briefly topped $1,000, before easing to
$994.80. New York's notional close was $993.85.

U.S. gold futures for December delivery GCZ9 touched
$1,000 briefly before slipping to $996.3 per ounce. Futures
settled at $996.70 on Friday. U.S. markets were closed on
Monday for the Labor Day holiday.

Link to Full Reuters Story

Happy Prospecting

Gold Prospecting reaps rewards

2009-09-01T23:00:00.006-05:00

I seldom get to comment on what being a prospector means to me personally. Today is one of those very few times. Yesterday I had the pleasure of signing a deal with an exploration company that will provide me the prospector with assurances of a good deal on property held by a company I helped form. This is an example of what we look forward to as prospectors, when we find the good areas and get them explored by hard work or as in this case hard work and an option to explore by another company.

It sometimes takes a deal of this caliber to show the value of prospectors and it often also takes the means available of a better healed company in order to get the work done. Here is the press release announcing our deal.

EagleRidge Minerals has now positioned itself as a major land owner in the Rice Lake Gold Belt of Manitoba

EagleRidge Minerals Options Freeman and Bolger Claims in the Rice Lake Greenstone Belt of Southeast Manitoba

September 1, 2009 - Pinawa, Manitoba
EagleRidge Minerals Ltd. (“ERM” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has finalized an option agreement with Central Consolidated Resources (“CCR”) for two claim groups in the Rice Lake greenstone belt of southeast Manitoba.
The Freeman and Bolger mineral claims are located near Bissett, Manitoba. The mineral claims consist of the seven (7) contiguous Freeman claims covering an area of 1707 hectares. These claims are located 1,500 metres to the northeast of the present San Gold Corporation mineral lease. The five (5) Bolger claims cover 468 hectares and are located 13 kilometres to the west-southwest of the San Gold mining operations. Both claim groups are in very active areas for gold exploration.

The agreement allows ERM the right to acquire 100% of the properties by completing $520,000 in exploration over the next two years and by providing CCR with $200,000 and 700,000 shares over the same time period. CCR will retain a 3% net smelter royalty and an area of interest royalty. ERM has the option to purchase half of the CCR royalty for $1,500,000.

At present ERM holds or has optioned a total of 18,000 hectares of mineral claims in the Rice Lake greenstone belt. This ground holds potential for new gold showings in light of the recent gold discoveries being made by San Gold and the exploration activities by other companies in the region. The addition of the Freeman-Bolger claims has strengthened ERM’s land holdings in belt.
Prospecting and geological exploration teams will soon be deployed on the new claims.
Carey Galeschuk, P.Geo, ERM President and COO, is the qualified person under the definition of NI 43-101 for these projects.
About EagleRidge Minerals Ltd.

ERM is presently a privately traded company. The Company is focused on gold and base metal mineral exploration in the provinces of Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador. The company operates exploration office in both Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador.

EagleRidge Minerals-Fischot Island, St. Julien's, Copper Discovery With Up to 5.0% Copper in Surface Field Samples

2009-08-27T14:27:00.001-05:00

PINAWA, MANITOBA-- Aug. 27, 2009 - EagleRidge Minerals Ltd (ERM) is excited to announce today that is has received final assays from its 2009 geological mapping, geochemistry and prospecting work on the Fischot Islands, on the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland.

During the months of June and July, the company was very busy conducting ground exploration work in the Great Northern Peninsula area of Newfoundland and surrounding areas. Work was focused in the Baie Verte and St. Julien's Project area in Newfoundland and Labrador. Fischot Island is located in the north eastern portion of the St, Julien's project area, approximately 10 kilometres north of the original St. Julien's copper showing, now referred to as the Copper Cod Showing.

Fischot Island

Fischot Island is a group of islands that are geologically represented as a mafic volcanic suite of rocks with several large gabbros intrusions. The volcanic rocks to the north contain a large stockwork system of quartz veining. The quartz veins are generally brecciated and carry pebble to cobble size chalcopyrite pieces. The mafic volcanic rocks are highly altered with chlorite, epidote and lesser amounts of carbonate. The northern island, Northwest Island, contains the bulk of the copper mineralization, as well as Frommy Island.

Geological mapping, geochemistry and prospecting were carried out over the islands in July of 2009. The program was generated from limited prospecting performed the year previous on the island by EagleRidge Minerals field crews. The present work has indentified two zones of copper sulphide mineralization. Copper mineralization is generally situated in the quartz veins but is also found in associated shear zones and to a lesser extent in the host rock.

The main zone of copper mineralization covers an area of 1400 metres by 700 metres on surface and has a general ovoid shape. Copper mineralization is generally associated with the brecciated quartz veins and associated shear zones. Veins have been noted up to 15 metres in width but average around 10 centimetres. Strike lengths are commonly over 100 metres. Associated shear zones are generally 10 metres wide and contain disseminated chalcopyrite and pyrite. Surface sampling has returned copper values in the range of 0.6% to 5%. Several samples outside of the main zone of mineralization assayed 0.1% to 0.5% copper and forms a lower grade narrow envelope of mineralization.

The northern zone of mineralization is located in the northern portion of the island chain. This zone is a linear trend that extends for 2100 metres with a width of 100 to 125 metres. Copper mineralization is predominantly hosted in the brecciated quartz veins as pebbles and cobbles of chalcopyrite but also as disseminated sulphides in shear zones. Assays ranged from 0.6% to 2% copper. This zone of mineralization has a lower grade copper halo of mineralization with widths of 20 to 30 metres on either side of the trend. The lower grade copper assayed between 0.13% and 0.5% copper.

Rock Assay QAQC

All rock samples were sent by private vehicles to the Accurassay Laboratories sample preparation office in Gambo, Newfoundland. Assays were completed at the Accurassay Laboratories in Thunder Bay, Ontario. EagleRidge Minerals follows a QAQC program of documented sample procedures and the introduction of commercial standards into the sample series.

VTEM on Fischot Island

During the later part of 2008, Eagleridge Minerals contracted Geotech Limited to fly a VTEM airborne EM and magnetic geophysical survey over the eastern portion of the St. Julien's project. The airborne survey covered the Fischot Islands.

The company contracted an independent geophysical consultant, John Kieley, to review the data. His report recommends several VTEM targets on Fischot Island and two of them are associated with the newly discovered copper mineralization.

Additional Ground Added

In light of the significant surface copper mineralization encountered, additional claims were added to the St. Julien's Project. Additional claims were added around Fischot Islands and Cormorandier Island. Potential exists to the north and west of the present Fischot Island discovery.

Exploration Plan

Presently the geological field crews are presently working on the company's gold projects in the Bissett region of south eastern Manitoba. A crew of prospectors are currently prospecting the recently added mineral claims located on Fischot Island, on the St. Julien's project in Newfoundland and the Goose Cove area.

Once all the work for Fischot Island and the rest of St. Julien's are completed and compiled, a drill program will be planned. The drilling will be based on the geological and geophysical interpretations. It is expected that drilling will occur later this fall. Efforts are underway to obtain financing for the drilling and continued exploration work on all of the company's mineral claims. A news release should be released shortly on the rest of the St. Julien's Project area.

Carey Galeschuk, P.Geo, ERM President and COO, is the qualified person for these projects.

About EagleRidge Minerals Ltd

ERM is presently a privately traded company. The company is focused on gold and base metal mineral exploration in the provinces of Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador. The company operates exploration offices in both Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador. The company is actively exploring gold and base metal targets in both provinces.

Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable US and Canadian securities laws. Assumptions that have been made still require to be proven from field investigations. Management believes there is strong potential with regard to economic mineralization being found on their mineral exploration properties however this can only be proven through progressive field exploration and geological investigations. The statements in this release contain information that has known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be different from those presented in this release. All investments carry a certain level of risk that cannot be considered to be under the control of EagleRidge Minerals Ltd.

Prospecting Creates new Klondike Gold Rush

2009-08-26T14:02:00.003-05:00

I just had the opportunity to read a story in the Globe and Mail concerning new gold discoveries made in the Klondike. It seems that gold prospecting may have finally located at least one of the elusive mother lodes that thousands of fortune hunters and would be prospectors searched for over 100 years ago.

I think this shows that prospecting is a very useful profession and it can be rewarding, but it takes time to do it right!

Here are some parts of the full story.

"We've finally found the first one that actually shows enough gold in one spot to say, 'Ahh, this is the type of deposit that could have produced the Klondike,' " said Shawn Ryan of Dawson, Yukon.

Mr. Ryan has combined 10 years of old-fashioned bushwhacking with the latest high-tech data gathering to find a gold belt nine kilometres long. The prospector's find is in the so-called White Gold area, south of Dawson, near where the White and Yukon rivers meet.

The area isn't new to gold seekers. In the late 1890s, it was part of the Klondike Gold Rush, which saw tens of thousands of hopeful "cheechakos," or newcomers, flood into the Yukon hoping to pan and sluice their way to riches.

Dawson swelled to 30,000 as creeks and gravel bars yielded millions of dollars of gold. Much of it was spent in bars such as Diamond-Tooth Gertie's, which provided Mr. Service with rich material for his oft-quoted odes such as The Cremation of Sam McGee.

The sources of that gold were never found. But Maurice Colpron of the Yukon Geological Survey says the White Gold find could be one of them

"The motherlode is still out there and that's the hype around the White Gold area."

Plenty of miners seem to think so. There are at least 29 junior mining companies active in the area. About 7,900 claims have been staked since late 2006.

Mineral exploration spending in the Yukon has risen from $7-million in 2002 to over $100-million in 2007 and 2008. Even in recessionary 2009, government figures suggest mining companies will spend up to $60-million.

Early drilling results explain the rush. Many operating mines exploit deposits that yield one gram of gold per tonne of ore. White Gold-area miners report 100-metre stretches of claim that yield three or four times that.

One company says a small section of its claim contains 410 grams of gold a tonne.

"People are really starting to realize this is a great place to explore," said Susan Craig, director of the Yukon Chamber of Mines and president of Northern Freegold Resources, one of the region's main players.

Link to Globe and Mail Story

As Been Webber the author of the article says " Somewhere, the ghost of Robert W. Service is smiling."

Let us keep on prospecting! Have a great and rewarding day.

EagleRidge Minerals Increases Ground Position in Newfoundland and Labrador

2009-07-15T10:22:00.002-05:00

Pinawa, Manitoba July 12th, 2009

EagleRidge Minerals Ltd (ERM) is excited to announce today that is has made some sufficient additions to its mineral claim portfolio in Newfoundland and Labrador. ERM has staked new ground in the Baie Verte area for gold and the Goose Cove area for copper.

ERM has added an additional 13 claims in the Micmac lake region on the Baie Verte Peninsula, approximately 40 kilometres to the south of the community of Baie Verte,, Newfoundland. These claims were staked to cover several known gold showing that were discovered and worked on by Noranda in the late 1980’s. The historical gold showings are known as the Crow Hill South and Raven zones. Both showings are spatially associated with the Crow Hill topographic linear.

Historical exploration work in the area consisted of sampling, geophysics, trenching and limited diamond drilling.
Mineralization is structurally controlled and hosted in quartz veins with intense alteration of the host rock. Channel samples over the Raven zone returned historic surface channel sample values of 1.88 g/t Au over 4 metres and 2.19 g/t Au over 1 metre from diamond drilling. The Crow Hill South Zone yielded historic assays of 1.03 g/t Au over 12 metres from surface channel sampling and 1.87 g/t Au over 11 metres from diamond drilling. Mineralized float in the area returned historic assay values up to 16 g/t Au.

In addition, ERM is pleased to announce that it has added to their mineral claim ground position in the Goose cove area of Newfoundland and Labrador. This area is located approximately 10 kilometres south of the community of St. Anthony’s, Newfoundland. The claims cover the historical past producing Goose Cove Copper Mine. The Goose Cove Mine opened in 1908 and operated for several years. Production records are poorly available but the grade of the copper ore averaged 8-10% copper with approximately 4% copper in the adjacent schist host rock.

Phase 1 of the exploration plan for the Gosse cove area will start in the late summer of 2009. This work will consist of reconnaissance mapping and prospecting. Phase 1 of the new gold claims on the Baie Verte Peninsula will also consist of reconnaissance mapping and prospecting. This work will be carried out in the fall of 2009.

Carey Galeschuk, P.Geo, ERM President and COO, is the qualified person for these projects.

Prospecting Hobby Turns into Property Option and Exploration

2009-07-06T15:24:00.004-05:00

Can you profit from mineral prospecting? That is a question often asked when "one gets put on the spot" by people that are less excited about mineral prospecting. Usually people laugh a little and say oh sure. Stuff Like that!

Prospecting can turn into much more than a hobby.

Here is a story of four brothers from a small town in remote Newfoundland Canada that had the prospecting bug. Starting out as a hobby their efforts to look at an old mine shaft and surrounding area turned into one of the few aggressive copper exploration projects undertaken in the province during 2008 - 2009.

The full article can be read at http://www.northernpen.ca/index.cfm?sid=188333&sc=361

Here are some exerts from the story.

While the McGrath brothers brought Eagle Ridge to the area last spring, their exploration began as children climbing over rusty rocks. While the Grandois natives left the McGrath fishing stage as young men to seek work, those memories came rushing back to Wilbert as he toiled on Voisey Bay drilling rigs during the nickel rush.

"My interest was based on the simple concept of 'rusty rocks' that is a obvious indication of mineralization present in rocks, sulphides, as the oxidization process causes the rocks to be rust-stained," said Wilbert. "I kept thinking of a place I knew back near my hometown - there was lots of rusty rocks near the old St. Julien's mine shaft."

So, Wilbert, Eddie, Don and Fred made themselves a summer project - they pumped out the old mine shaft.

"The old-timers always told us it was a copper mine," said Eddie. "It started out as a bit of excitement and an excuse to get together."

But when the water was gone from the century-old exploration shaft, the brothers found a large rusty area and took samples. They came back showing eight per cent copper.

Believing in their find, they went to the annual conference of the Prospectors Development Association of Canada in Toronto, where they met Mr. Freeman.

"These boys knew nothing about prospecting, but they took the initiative and came to Toronto and all they ever seemed to care about was their community," said Mr. Freeman. "They deserve a lot of credit - this is one of only a few forgotten copper mines in Canada."

With the recent progress, Wilbert has allowed himself to indulge in dreams of a future for Grandois, which has withered to 20 residents at the end of a long dirt road since the cod moratorium.

"Following a successful drilling program, the ultimate dream is naturally to see mining development and to see the schools and churches full of people again in Croque and Grandois."

Don, meanwhile, just smiled on his way back to the old family stage after a morning building a shed on the site, and said, "If nothing else, it's a good excuse for a ride in boat."

Full Story Here

EaglRidge Minerals Link

New thinking gets gold

2009-07-04T22:12:00.003-05:00

There is a mining company in Manitoba that been successful at finding high grade gold deposits in areas that have been overlooked since 1911. Their success comes from using fresh thinking and hard work, leading to the development of a new geological model that has resulted in awesome new discoveries of gold.

That is prospecting at its best!

The company making these new discoveries is San Gold Corp.

Sticking to the prospecting code, proves its value once again.

Read here for more information on San Gold corp

EagleRidge Minerals Ltd Begins 2009 Newfoundland and Labrador Exploration Program

2009-06-29T10:28:00.006-05:00

Toronto, Ontario and St. Johns Newfoundland and Labrador June 29thth, 2009

EagleRidge Minerals Ltd (ERM) is pleased to announce that field exploration crews have been mobilized from the Manitoba sites to the Newfoundland project sites. Field exploration work was performed on the Baie Verte area. The crews are now working on the St. Julien’s exploration project. Both project areas offer great opportunity for the discovery of gold and base metals mineralization.

The company has assembled a 12 person field crew consisting of geologists, geological assistants, Newfoundland prospectors and local persons from St. Juliens and Croque. The exploration crews are being overseen by ERM’s President and COO, Carey Galeschuk, P.Geo.

The Baie Verte Project was primarily focused on reconnaissance mapping and prospecting. The St. Julien’s Project is focused on detailed geological mapping and structural studies. Previous prospecting samples from St. Julien’s have returned copper assays over 22% as well as numerous other high assays of copper.
The company is excited about the potential of its’ Newfoundland projects. Field crews are following up the prospecting efforts undertaken in the St. Julien’s area during the summer and fall of 2008. During 2008, ERM carried out extensive ground prospecting on the St. Juliens project as well as airborne geophysics.

The VTEM geophysical anomalies in the St. Julien’s area that were generated during the airborne survey will be traced in the field. As well, an independent consultant has reviewed the electromagnetic and magnetic geophysical data from the St. Julien’s area and soon will be issuing an interpretive report. Diamond drilling is planned for later in the fall of 2009 in the St. Julien’s area.
Carey Galeschuk, P.Geo, ERM President and COO, is the qualified person for these projects.

About EagleRidge Minerals Ltd

ERM is presently a privately held mineral exploration company focused on gold and base metal mineral exploration in the provinces of Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The company operates exploration office in both Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador.
The company has made high grade copper discoveries on its St. Juliens property in Newfoundland and recently acquired new properties near the high grade hinge zone gold discovery made by San Gold Corporation at Rice Lake, Manitoba.
ERM holds over 18,000 hectares of property in the Rice Lake greenstone belt of Manitoba and has over 29,000 hectares of mineral properties in Newfoundland. The company is actively exploring gold and base metal targets in both provinces.

http://www.eagleridgeminerals.com

Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable US and Canadian securities laws. Assumptions that have been made still require to be proven from field investigations. Management believes there is strong potential with regard to economic mineralization being found on their mineral exploration properties however this can only be proven through progressive field exploration and geological investigations. The statements in this release contain information that has known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be different from those presented in this release. All investments carry a certain level of risk that cannot be considered to be under the control of EagleRidge Minerals Ltd.

Story link

ETA: The entire EagleRidge Minerals news release can be seen on Market Wire

Wall street or In the Woods

2009-05-19T07:26:00.000-05:00

Give me a cabin in the woods
Where not a human soul intrudes;
Where I can sit beside a stream
Beneath a balsam bough and dream,
And every morning see arise
The sun like bird of paradise;
Then go down to the creek and fish
A speckled trout for breakfast dish,
And fry it in an ember fire -
Ah! there's the life of my desire.

Alas! I'm tied to Wall Street where
They reckon me a millionaire,
And sometimes in a day alone
I gain a fortune o'er the 'phone.
Yet I to be a man was made,
And here I ply this sorry trade
Of Company manipulation,
Of selling short and stock inflation:
I whom God meant to rope a steer,
Fate made a Wall Street buccaneer.

Old Time, how I envy you
Who do the things I long to do.
Oh, I would swap you all my riches
To step into your buckskin britches.
Your ragged shirt and rugged health
I'd take in trade for all my wealth.
Then shorn of fortune you would see
How drunk with freedom I would be;
I'd kick so hard, I'd kick so high,
I'd kick the moon clean from the sky.

Aye, gold to me is less than brass,
And jewels mean no more than glass.
My gold is sunshine and my gems
The glint of dew on grassy stems . . .
Yet though I hate my guts its true
Time sorta makes you used to you;
And so I will not gripe too much
Because I have the Midas touch,
But doodle on my swivel chair,
Resigned to be a millionaire.

Robert Service

Gold Prospecting Still Survives

2009-04-28T19:29:00.021-05:00

At a time with when paintings of doom and gloom scenes have more value than the earth's precious minerals and certainly have more value than the stock of many of the public traded companies. Good news is often needed to help us realize that all is not lost in the cow patty pile - otherwise known as the stimulated economy and troubles of today - that we accept as the rule of our times.

Good news is a rare commodity in our industry, in our times and in our situations, so when good news does come along, it should be shared.

Today comes news of aggressive new exploration plans and mineral property expansions, from a private Canadian mineral prospecting company. A company that is bucking the odds and doing what prospectors have been known to do, keep on locating and creating valuable mineral discoveries in all winds and weathers.

Isn't that good news in the prospector world? Maybe it should also be seen as good news in general, simply because there is hope that the entrepreneurial and discovery spirit is not lost in all the doom and gloom that we hear each day.

So What is EagleRidge Minerals Ltd is up to, let us have a look:

Company news release from St. Juliens Newfoundland and Labrador

EagleRidge Minerals Ltd is pleased to announce that it has acquired additional mining claims in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. 78 claims (1950 hectares) have been staked to expand its Baie Vista property on the Baie Verte Peninsula, 130 new claims (3250 hectares) have been staked adjoining its St. Juliens copper project on the Northern Peninsula and 90 additional claims (2250 hectares) have been staked in the Little Bay area of Nortre Dame Bay.

With the addition of these new claims, EagleRidge has expanded it's Baie Vista gold project which now contains 183 mining claims covering 4575 hectares. The Baie Vista property is located in an emerging gold production area on the Baie Verte peninsula. The mining claims are also adjacent to historic base metals mines. This property adjoins the mining leases of the developing Anaconda Mining Pine Cove gold mine and is in close proximity to the Ramblers Metals Ming copper and gold mine.

The Baie Verte peninsula on the Island of Newfoundland is experiencing renewed exploration effort due to increased industry interest in precious metals. The large number of past gold occurrences and more recent platinum group metal discoveries has created a new focus of attention on the area.

EagleRidge views it's Baie Vista property as being a mineral property with excellent potential for the discovery of gold, platinum and base metals along with chromium and magnesium. The Dunnage Zone ophiolitic volcanic-hosted environments, in which new gold and platinum deposits have been recently found on the peninsula, also underlie the Baie Vista property. About 125 gold deposits have been reported on the Baie Verte Peninsula.

Historic data revels that at least 7 documented mineral occurrences exist within the Baie Vista property boundaries and numerous others exist within 50 – 1000 meters from the property boundaries. These include gold, copper, chromium and asbestos, minor silver and nickel indications are also documented. Company staff also made a new gold discovery of 3.8 g/t in late 2008 during a brief field examination. Gold values up to 5.9 g/t (soils) and 6.75 g/t (rock) are reported from past work on the property. EagleRidge will begin an exploration program on the Baie vista property during the summer of 2009.

EagleRidge has once again expanded the St. Juliens copper/ nickel property by acquiring more land covering numerous other base metal mineral showings and marble deposits to the west of the original claims. Based on research activities and the results of the 2008 VTEM survey the company moved swiftly to stake additional claims on two occasions. The St Juliens property now consists of 572 claims totaling 14,300 hectares in area.

EagleRidge continues to experience excellent exploration results, with samples assaying up to 22% copper, at St. Juliens and the company is preparing to start another aggressive exploration program in 2009. Staff and outside consultants are now busy interpreting the VTEM anomalies identified from the 2008 survey and are compiling data to complete the planning for intensified exploration efforts. The new St. Juliens claims add additional discovery potential for base metals and also provide an industrial grade marble deposit with historic reserves of over 40 million tonnes.

EagleRidge Minerals Ltd also staked a total of 90 minerals claims or 2250 hectares in the Little Bay area of Nortre Dame Bay. The company conducted research that revealed appealing gold and copper showings and acted quickly to acquire the land. These claims are staked over geology similar to that encountered at 32 mines developed in the highly productive Dunnage Zone of the Notre Dame bay area. The company is pleased to have acquired an excellent property in this exciting area.

Review of historic data for the Little Bay properties revealed mineral occurrences with copper grades up to 5.16%, gold up to 10.4 g/t and silver up to 2.5 g/t. The Little Bay properties will be explored in detail once planning is completed.Over 100 mineral occurrences exist within the northwestern Dunnage Zone, making this one of the most richly mineralized parts of the island of Newfoundland.

With these new property additions EagleRidge continues to build its property base and diversify the opportunity for discovery success.

Company website www.eagleridgeminerals.com

It is pretty simple is it not, go for it in thick or thin, be a prospector.

Mineral prospecting on the ocean floor

2009-04-04T13:04:00.005-05:00

To say that prospecting and mineral exploration is embracing technology is perhaps an understatement when we consider the news that a breakthrough project is moving forward in New Guinea to mine the ocean floor. Well black smokers anyway.

Scientists have documented concentrations of metals found near underwater hydrothermal vents, nicknamed "black smokers" because they act like chimneys, or conduits in the earth's spreading plates, that allow sea water to seep into the earth's crust, where it becomes heated, all the while leaching precious minerals from the surrounding rock and returning mineral super enriched water back up the chimneys.

This soup of water and minerals spews out and cools depositing the enriched mineral material on the ocean floor near the vents. That enriched material is the kind of stuff that prospectors dream of finding when they search for new deposits.

This type of activity also helped to create many of the on land deposits being mined or explored today, however the action took place long - long ago when the land was covered with sea water. The hydrothermal vents and veins that created the on land deposits have long become dormant. The land has been uplifted to high and dry areas and deposits are mined using traditional means.

Today we have the technology to mine these active black smokers providing that we are careful in doing so in a sound manner, where the unique sea life around the black smokers is protected.

About 200 active vents have been found, though only 10 nearby deposits are considered prolific enough to mine, according to a report by the International Seabed Authority. Underwater dormant vents are much tougher to locate, but the deposits around them may also be fruitful. An ISA report indicates a single deposit could weigh 100 million tons.

Although I don’t expect to jump overboard and have a look at one of those deposits anytime soon, it certainly is interesting reading and a testament to human ingenuity.

The Title above provides a reference link to the news story.

The Prospector

2009-03-19T18:02:00.001-05:00

Reproduced from the Northern Miner - From a speech delivered in 1938 by William Sulzer, a former governor of New York.

The prospector is the most useful man to commerce and the most valuable man of civilization.

Political economists tell us that next to agriculture, mining is the next greatest industry. This is true from the viewpoint that if our soil were untilled, famine would stalk the land.

From a monetary standpoint, however, the mining industry is the greatest in the world. The truth of this assertion becomes apparent when one considers that mining gives us the standard of value by which the price of everything produced by the brain and brawn of man is measured.

Abandon mining and the value of every commodity would be insignificant, humanity would sink back to the barter-and-exchange age, and financial paralysis would lock in its vice-like grasp the industries of mankind.

It would be the greatest calamity that ever befell the human race, and in less than a century, civilization would revert to the barbarism of pre-history, when primitive man knew nothing about copper, gold, silver, iron, lead, zinc and the other mineral resources of Mother Earth.

Those who decry mining are ignorant of history. If they knew anything about metals, they would know that all business, all industry and all human progress depends on mines.

The wealth from mines, from the dawn of time, is the epic of human advancement of man's heroic march along the path of progress.

Show me a people without mines and I will show you a people deep in the mire of poverty and a thousand years behind the procession of civilization. It was the mines that made the greatness of the past, that made the ancient civilizations, that made Egypt great, that made Rome great and, in modern times, that hive made Spain, England and the U.S. rise beyond the dreams of avarice.

The greatest benefactor of the human race has been the prospector. The most beneficent men of all time are the far-seeing men whose brain and brawn developed the Earth's mineral resources.

These are men who poured the golden streams of mineral wealth into the lap of civilization, into the channels of trade, into the avenues of commerce and into the homes of happiness.

All honor to the miner. All hail the prospector.

Link http://www.northernminer.com/

Gold is a currency

2008-10-25T20:24:00.001-05:00

Was just reading Jim Sinclair Oct 24th.

Here is a quote:

Gold is a currency.

Paper currency insures nothing.

Gold is insurance.

Gold is not a commodity.

Gold will trade at a minimum of $1650 MUCH SOONER THAN I HAVE ANTICIPATED.

The shorts in gold shares will get what they deserve - financial decimation.

Your friend,
Jim

I like this type of thinking. Makes a prospector want to head back out to the claims and find some more. Happy Hunting.

Mineral Prospecting in Manitoba Canada - New Demand

2008-02-18T22:42:00.002-06:00

Manitoba like many other areas of Canada is experiencing a surge in mineral exploration, with many companies actively planning or conducting exploration projects. This year it is projected that nearly $100 million will be spent on exploration in the province searching for precious metals like Gold and Platinum and base metals such as Copper, Nickel and Zinc.

With this increased activity comes an increased demand for experienced prospectors to stake mineral claims, cut claim grids, conduct ground prospecting and carry out other work that prospectors have traditionally done. This is a high period or boom time in the exploration cycle and as a result it is becoming harder for companies to hire experienced and reliable prospecting crews.

Many companies that offer prospecting services are themselves finding it hard to hire workers that have experience or whom are trainable and exhibit the characteristics suitable to the job. This creates a situation were project operators are booking prospecting crews several weeks if not months in advance in order to help ensure a reliable work crew.

Personnel that rise to the challenge of working in remote areas, staying in bush camps and working in changing weather conditions have always been difficult to find, particularly new people that will make it a career. At this time of high demand they are even harder to find and the experienced ones are already employed and established in life preferring to be more selective where they work.

On the surface there may appear to be more people entering the profession. Many hire on for "training trials" and to try the job out, but the level of new recruits is quite small and most lack formal or on the job training, while others prefer different lines of work in the long term picture. As a result some companies have had to contract out of province crews to meet time frames and retain experienced prospectors.

Fortunately we have recently seen newer prospecting companies started in the province, by experienced owners / operators. These companies have initiated their own training and recruitment programs that provide for good pay rates and benefits in order to attract and retain reliable people.

Cash for Manitoba Fuel Lab

2008-02-02T17:55:00.000-06:00

Manitoba's efforts at environmentally-friendly transportation got a big boost yesterday with an announcement from the Federal government to commit funding of nearly $1.7 million to to Western Canada Testing Inc. (WESTEST), which is builing an environmentally-controlled fuel and vehicle testing lab.

WESTEST develops and tests components for the transportation, mining and machining sectors. The funds are set to boost biodiesel research at the facility.

In a statement released yesterday, Treasury Board President Vic Toews said the funds should ultimately boost fuel efficiencies and vehicle performance for the province.

Gold Price Moving ?

2008-01-22T07:53:00.000-06:00

Gold was knocked down to its lowest level in almost three weeks in early London trading today. Brought about in part by plunging global stock markets that forced funds to liquidate profitable commodity positions to cover margin calls.

While gold remains down on the day, buffeted by wider market winds in the short-term, many bullion watchers believe the precious metal should find strong buying interest if the equity market turmoil continues. Gold's historical role as a secure store of wealth has seen it boosted by over 200 usd since the credit crunch first took hold in the summer.

All about Gold Exploration Staking Mining Claims and The Flies

2007-12-07T17:50:00.000-06:00

The prospector has always been the work horse for mineral exploration. Both in yesterday and today. Prospectors were and still are the men and women that are in the field locating the ground that looks promising for mineral deposits .

Be it staking a mining claim, blazing a path for others to follow or cracking the rocks to find the secrets contained, prospectors do the backbone work and help to reveal the mineral worth of our mother earth.

The prospectors of the past worked hard for the opportunity to benefit from their months of isolation and hardships. Hardships they encountered by working in areas of the country that were uncharted or at best isolated and unmapped and without rapid transportation.

Those folks used canoes, dog teams, and walking, traveling many miles to explore the vast reaches of our country. The goal was to find minerals. Some lived to see “their find” become a mine, others were not so lucky.

In Canada and Manitoba of the past many a prospector left a town, rail link or trail, armed with pack sack, a grubstake and the ambition to go out in the bush and search for the next new discovery. They went into areas of our country that were wilderness, unexplored, uncharted and undiscovered. They went with iron well and determination.

Much of what those pioneers worked to achieve was ground breaking and instrumental at the time, and resulted in the finding of “the riches mines in history”

Today the modern prospector can utilize new technologies like GPS navigation, satellite mapping, in field communication, and other technologies, along with ATV”s, Snow sleds, Swamp buggies, helicopters and numerous other forms of transportation, to get were you need to be.

Here is a Video clip about flies. Every prospector past, present and future has had to live with the flies!

Manitoba Mining Convention 2007

2007-11-22T18:49:00.000-06:00

This years convention was a great success. While there I met up with old friends and made many new ones. Attendance was up and so was the interest in the minerals and opportunities that Manitoba has to offer.

Most exhibitors that I spoke with all agreed that interest in gold and base metal properties and projects is at an all time high. Convention delegates where in attendance from across Canada and from numerous other countries.

Given the recent run up in gold prices and the continual solid performance of metals, it's no wonder that attendance was up considerably from last year. Add to that the fact that Manitoba is considered number 1 in the world for mining policies, along with the stable political climate it's not hard to determine why mining exploration and development is reaching new levels.

Friday nights gala affair was indeed a highlight event, with a splendid meal, great entertainment and an atmosphere of excitement.

Thanks to all that helped to make it a convention to remember.

Mining is a fundamental part of life.

2007-06-02T15:19:00.000-05:00

The slogan of the Manitoba Prospectors and Developers Association Inc. is “If it Can't Be Grown It Has To Be Mined” That is a very short sentence but one of significant importance. Think about it, most of what we use has been derived from minerals that had to be mined, processed and manufactured into goods. Minerals and Mining are a fundamental part of life. Mining next to Agriculture is the oldest of industries and it follows the flow of civilization.

I recently read a very interesting Article by Doug Hadfield the Chief Editor of the Resourcex Investor newsletter. In his Article “ An Introduction to Mining and Mining Investment” he points out that It’s increasingly difficult to supply enough gold, uranium, nickel, copper, fuel to millions added each year to the middle class. I have reprinted the article below with permission under ArticlesBase guidelines.

Resourcex Reports: an Introduction to Mining and Mining Investment

Author: Doug Hadfield

By Doug Hadfield, Senior Editor, ResourcexInvestor.com

An astute investor once said, “If it’s not grown, it has to be mined.” It’s a phrase of gigantic proportions and far-reaching consequences, when you think about it. From the knob on your television to the zipper in your trousers, most of what we possess was first explored for, extracted from the earth, smelted and finally manufactured. As such, mining is, next to agriculture, the oldest of mankind’s industries.

The first mining occurred some 450,000 years ago during the Stone Age. At this time, humans barely scratched the surface of the earth for minerals to forge implements such as flints for hunting and countless other purposes.

Interestingly, the history of mining to some extent parallels the history of civilization. Many epochs are identified by the minerals associated with them. For example, the Bronze Age, from 4000 to 5000 BC; the Iron Age, from 1500 to 1780 AD; and the Steel Age, from 1780 to 1945.

We now live in the Nuclear Age (1945 – present), which recent events prove is only just beginning. Though few are aware of it, there are 435 nuclear reactors in 30 countries, which in 2006 provided 16% of the world’s electricity. According to Australia’s Uranium Information Center (www.uic.com.au), at least 10 countries are building or are planning to build nuclear reactors, with more than 60 in the planning stages, and 150 proposed. Greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, along with the likelihood of peak oil putting upward pressure on established energy prices and eventually knocking out supply – these have conspired to put nuclear back on the global agenda, regardless of what environmentalists have to say about it.

In this sense, all of mining is an imperative. While it is true that mining investment is essentially a series of “supercycles” (marked by 10 years or more of bull market conditions), we are currently in the midst of the most significant bull market in the history of modern economies. Never before have global supply and demand fundamentals exerted such pressure on the price and availability (or lack thereof) of mineral commodities.

To put it simply, we are entering an era of scarcity. It’s increasingly difficult to supply enough gold, uranium, nickel, copper, fuel and so on to the millions that are added to the world’s (read: Chinese and Indian) middle class each year. During the period 1980 to 2000, China’s GDP quadrupled, resulting in an incredible boom in its middle class that still goes on today. And what do middle class people do? They watch TV, drive cars, and wear jewelry. In short, they consume, and, as I stated earlier, everything that is not grown must be mined.

Mining today is seeing incredible land staking, particularly in the newly burgeoning uranium exploration industry. I spend about an hour every day scanning the TSX Venture exchange press releases. As such, I can tell you at any point in the year what companies are reporting about. And today – these days – the vast majority of uranium exploration companies are reporting land acquisitions, optioning properties and very early stage exploration.

The reason that exploration companies are presently buying up land in a frenzy, with uranium and nickel showing lots of early stage reporting, while gold has numerous late stage assays, etc., is central to understanding investing in the industry. Mining is cyclical. Demand rises, the price goes up. New production comes on-stream, the price goes down.

What caused the present supercycle – and there have only been three in history – was a combination of events: extended increase in demand (fueled by sustained population and economic growth) and a slowdown in supply during the previous crash in commodities prices, exacerbated by the depletion of most of the world’s “easy” reserves. Add to this mix the volatile variable known as speculation, and you just never know when this bull will stop for a breather.

Evidence of the present supercycle permeates both the mining world and our global economy. For example, the price of gold is riding high at approximately $685 per ounce, but not as high as it was in January 1980, when gold reached a high of $850/oz. Yet the British metals consulting firm GFMS recently said that the highest average gold price for any year ever – $614.50 per ounce in 1980 – will be beaten this year. Sustained elevated prices sound the supercycle siren.

Further evidence of the supercycle comes in the form of a publication from Deutsche Bank entitled “China’s Commodity Hunger”, which forecasted an increase in Chinese import demand at least until 2020. The report projects that import demand growth rates for commodities such as oil, coal, iron ore, copper and manganese will continue to grow by double digits for more than a decade.

So what does all this mean to investors? Two things: First, the next ten years or so will see unprecedented sums of money made (and lost) by those who invest in mining companies. Second, if the previous point interests you, now is the time to learn about mining, because the better you understand the industry, the better armed you will be when making important investment decisions.

Most analysts will tell you that the sagacious independent investor invests the bulk of his or her savings in established mining companies with large scale production activities. This is true: junior exploration companies do not enjoy the same insulation from market fluctuations as companies with established reserves. Exploration companies like the ones Resourcex Investor researches rely on the acumen of their management team, the ability to raise substantial capital to fund exploration activities and, believe it or not, a great deal of luck.

Yet, along with the inherent risk associated with exploration companies, there is also no question that exploration companies enjoy the greatest potential for reward. The top ten venture stocks in Resourcex.com’s 2007 newsletters to date have enjoyed an average ROI of 226% in about six months.

Perhaps the one constant in all the epochs that have passed since the dawn of organized mining is the sequence of activities that comprise the life of a mine. Understanding the five stages of a mine is essential to anyone considering investing in mining companies: Prospecting, exploration, development, exploitation and reclamation.

One pitfall that novice investors frequently experience is excess optimism about investments that they haven’t done proper “due diligence” on and/or don’t understand. If you were to put all the names of the world’s mineral exploration companies in a hat, you could pick 1000 before pulling out a winner. By doing due diligence on each prospective investment, by understanding the stage each is at, who the company employs and what they are looking for, there is much profit to be made.

Source: ArticlesBase.com

About the Author:
Doug Hadfield is the Chief Editor of the Resourcex Investor, an internationally distributed newsletter specializing in identifying as-yet-undiscovered resource companies representing the best in their class. For more information, visit the website www.resourcexinvestor.com

Where there is a Quartz Vein- Is There Gold?

2007-05-30T20:49:00.000-05:00

There is a picture at the bottom of this page. It was taken on a newly staked mineral claim in the Rice Lake Greenstone Belt of Manitoba. It's a picture on a vein exposed on the surface in an outcrop on the shoreline of a lake. In that picture I am leaning on a section of that vein. It is composed of Quartz and a few other things. (assays will tell)

We were propecting a section of the property and discovered this. There are not a whole lot of places that you can see a vein this size that is exposed enough to get a real idea of it's size.

That feature was formed as the result of fluids flowing into a good sized crack in the host rock and it seems that it altered the rock into which it formed. There is a shear zone to the left.

Following the Boulder Train

2007-05-24T22:35:00.000-05:00

Following the Boulder Train
This book is full of remarkable life histories of legendary prospectors who made fortunes but couldn't take enough time away from bushwhacking to enjoy them and of others who enjoyed them too much, making and losing so many fortunes they can't remember them all. The book offers memorable insights into the driven, obsessed world of mineral exploration and the mining industry in BC.

Editorial Reviews
Miningis BC's second largest industry but you'd never know it to visit any BC bookstore. Books on logging, fishing, and tourism are there in
abundance, but the subject of mining is practically untouched. As Tom
Henry proves beyond a doubt in this lively volume, it is not for any
lack of wonderful stories about the men and women who have been bitten
by the rock-chipping bug over the years. Henry ctually took a course in
exploration geology and experienced first hand the unique way of
looking at the world peculiar to mineral hunters. Every rock is an
"outcrop" with a story to tell about the forces that formed the local
landscape, and what mineral treasures may be hidden beneath.

This and other Gold Prospecting Resource Books can be found here

Note: This isn't a book about propsecting in Manitoba but minerals know NO boundries and this is a great read no matter where you propsect for gold, be it Russia, the Yukon, California, Manitoba, Newfoundland, Nevada or in any other place

Manitoba Mining Week

2007-05-23T11:07:00.000-05:00

This is Provincial Mining Week in Manitoba.

If you are looking to Dig Up Some Fun check out the free activities down at The Forks in Winnipeg. These are activities enjoyed by children and adults alike. It's a real family exploration affair.

Thursday, May 24 (9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.)

Friday, May 25 (9:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.)

Saturday, May 26 (9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.)

Some of the activities

- Pan for gold with Yukon Dan, champion gold panner – leave no stone unturned as you play prospector for a day

- Stump the Rock Doc – bring a neat rock, talk to the Doc

- Be a rockhound – collect your own fossil and mineral samples

- Check out the equipment used for exploration and extraction of minerals

- See the demos – watch how the experts cut and polish precious stones

- Trace the past – see Manitoba's rich mining history from the 1800s to the present

- Examine mineral samples and the many products you use that contain minerals

- Test your mining I.Q. – spin the wheel, answer a question and win a prize!

- Picture yourself as a mine worker – have CVRD Inco Limited take your photo as a scooptram operator

- Enter free Draws to win prizes

- Talk with experienced prospectors from the Manitoba Prospectors and Developers Association Inc.

and Lots more.

Last year the Provincial Mining Week has a huge success. Thousands of people visited The Forks. For more information contact: 204-945-6569 or toll-free 1-800-223-5215

What a great way to learn about minerals and fossils and have fun at the same time!

Images from Mining Week 2006

Claim Staking and Prospecting Services

2007-05-22T10:53:00.000-05:00

Finding a good claim staking and prospecting crew in Manitoba, that isn't totally booked up, is getting hard. That's why an experienced group has put together a crew offering the following services.

The Group

Central Consolidated Resources (CCR) is a privately owned Manitoba company based in Selkirk. CCR is provides a variety of services to the construction and mineral exploration industries . The company owners and staff have many years experience in general building, leveling - building moving and specialized construction.
CCR has assembled a crew of experience mineral prospectors, bush workers and office staff to provide services to the mineral exploration industry.

Mineral Exploration Industry Services

- Mineral claim staking.
- Claim filing including map - sketches, descriptions and GPS coordinates
- Base and grid Line cutting and setup
- Bush cutting for road or trail access
- Line renewal and picketing – chained, GPS
- Prospecting – rock and soil sampling
- Labor crew and equipment provision
- Job supervision and reporting
- Mineral properties for option or sale

Construction Services

- New building construction and additions - houses, cottages and shops
- Building renovations including lifting, leveling, joist and beam replacement or repair
- Foundation repairs or replacement, new foundations and basements
- Building – house, cottage winterizing – conversions
- Custom building and carpentry services
- Building moving and new site setup
- Remote and rural construction for buildings and camps
- Portable building sales and erecting - fabric or custom built wood – metal structures

Contact Information

Tel: 204-785-9995 Cell: 204-785-0331
Email: atlantol@yahoo.com

New Canadaian Gold Coin Is Worth $2.4 Million

2007-05-06T15:52:00.000-05:00

Are you a Gold Coin collector? A Serious collector?

Then you need to read about this monster.

The Royal Canadian Mint unveiled a welcome addition, on Thursday, a monster gold coin with a face value of C$1 million (U.S. $903,000). The Mint says this is the world's biggest, purest and highest denomination coin.

You can't argue with that! and Don't expect to keep one in your keepsake box unless you have a trunk, this coin weighs 100 kg's (220 lbs) and is the size of an extra large pizza.

Measuring 53 centimetres and over 3 cm thick, the monster coin is also handcrafted showing the Canadian Maple leaf on the face and the words Canada Fine Gold Gold 100kg.

The the new Mint Gold coins are adorned with a maple leaf and boast 99.999 percent purity, a notch above previous purity peaks of 99.99 percent.

"Since the Royal Canadian Mint upped the ante on the rest of the world in 1982, by raising the purity of gold bullion to four nines pure (99.99 percent) other nations have come on the scene ... Austria, the United States, and Australia being the case in point," said mint spokesman Alex Reeves.

What a coin to have. I think that the price of Gold is going to rise much more in the future. What do you think a coin like this would be worth in say 10 years from now? Leave a comment tell me what you think.

News Story

Manitoba Prospecting Rice Lake Greenstore Belt

2007-05-04T18:56:00.000-05:00

We took some pictures while prospecting for gold in the Stormy lake area of Manitoba.
The first one is of a hill (cliff) almost fully covered with a sheet of quartz combination.

This is a very interesting formation. There is a vein located at the bottom of the cliff that appears to be part of the same vein exposed on the cliff. The cliff is about 6 meters high and is exposed over near 100 meters. Any thoughts?

The above picture is of an old trench made to expose a vein on the same claim. We took samples and are awaiting assays. Earlier samples (near the trench) from an exposed vein returned over 14 grams per tonne AU.

We are also pleased to announce that we now offer claim staking, line cutting and prospecting services to the mining industry in Manitoba. Recently numerous industry people have told us that such services are hard to obtain due to a shortage of knowledgeable persons willing to do the work.

We have now assembled a crew and equipment and have begun some projects. If you wish to inquire about our services email aquafarms(at)gmail.com or call 204-785-9995 for information.

Manitoba Rated Best in the World on Mining Policies

2007-03-21T17:00:00.000-05:00

As a Manitoba prospector it is warming to see that our province has been ranked number one in the world for it's mineral policies. I am happy to see the province and our industry recieve the attention and recognition.

Excerts from Manitoba News Release

March 6, 2007

PROVINCE'S MINING POLICIES RECOGNIZED BY EXPLORATION AND MINING COMPANIES AS BEST IN THE WORLD

Manitoba has been rated as having the best policy environment in the world for mining investment based on the results of the latest Fraser Institute survey, Science, Technology, Energy and Mines Minister Jim Rondeau announced today.

“We have worked closely with stakeholders to develop an investment climate that will attract exploration and development, and create mutually beneficial opportunities.” said Rondeau. “Our formula of strong incentives combined with rich resources and a comprehensive geological database continue to be solid economic drivers for Manitoba’s mining sector. While we have consistently ranked among the top jurisdictions, we welcome this number one rating for the first time.”

“Manitoba has the political stability that many other jurisdictions don’t offer,” said Dale Ginn, CEO of San Gold Corporation. “Companies are attracted to Manitoba because of its policies for mineral investment that make it one of the best places in the world to explore.”

The Fraser Institute’s annual survey asks mining company executives to provide opinions about the investment attractiveness of 65 jurisdictions around the world on every continent except Antarctica.

The mission of the institute, an independent research and educational organization, is to measure, study, and communicate the impact of competitive markets and government intervention on the welfare of individuals.

Full Story Link

*****************

Gold Mining In Manitoba - History

2007-03-20T10:36:00.000-05:00

Gold was first discovered in Manitoba by William Molson on the north shore of a lake that today is called Molson Lake. Molson was part of a geological survey in 1872 and mentioned the a discovery of gold in that area. It was not until 1896 that the first claims were staked in the West Hawk Lake area.

During that time a farmer / prospector named Loucks, also traveled by canoe from Prince Albert Saskatchewan to Reed lake Northern Manitoba and staked out some mineral claims. Loucks removed samples valued at $9 gold, the gold price was $20.67 per once at that time.

From The Manitoba Historical Society Website

“””South-eastern Manitoba may he able to claim that it was one of the first areas in the Province to record the discovery of gold but it cannot claim to be the first gold producer.

Reference has already been made to the Loucks' discovery at Reed Lake in 1896, but it may be said that the first systematic search in the area north of The Pas, begun in 1907, culminated in the discovery of the Kiski-Wekusko claims at Herb (Wekusko) Lake in 1914 by Richard Woosey and M. J. Hackett. Parties had moved into the area north-westward from Ontario and north-east from Saskatchewan.

The first recorded production was that of 1917 when a shipment of 28 1/2 tons of gold quartz ore was made from the Moosehorn claim to Trail, B.C., the average return being $91 a ton. (Authors note: That's real high grade considering the price of gold during that time)

The discovery of gold at Herb Lake in 1914 and of copper ore at Flin Flon in 1915 soon attracted attention to the mineral possibilities of Northern Manitoba, and this was stirred again by the discovery of a high-grade copper deposit at the Mandy property in the fall of 1915; and there for the first time a diamond drill was used at a Manitoba mine. The Rex claim at Herb Lake was the first to have a mill installed and became the second gold producer of the area using the amalgamation process to recover the gold from the ore.

In the period 1917-1927 most of the gold produced in Manitoba came from the Mandy mine at Schist Lake and the Rex (later the Laguna) mine at Herb Lake. Small productions were recorded from the Gold Pan, the Kingfisher, and the Selkirk properties of the Rice Lake area.

Owing to its rich character and the high price of copper, for it was in war- time, the Mandy quickly became a producer. It is also recorded that the first diamond drill to be used in Manitoba was put to work at the Mandy in 1915.

Mining of the ore followed development of the orebody and in the years 1917 to 1920, 25,000 tons of ore, averaging $91 a ton in recoverable metal, were mined hauled 40 miles in winter by sleighs to Sturgeon Landing, then shipped by barge 130 miles on Saskatchewan River to The Pas, and thence 1,200 miles by railroad to the smelter at Trail, B.C.

At one time as many as 300 teams of horses were used in the winter hauling of ore from the Mandy mine. Some idea of the remoteness of the mine in the 1917-1920 days may be gathered from the records in that Mandy ore was not smelted at Trail until a year after it left the mine.

In its three years of operation something over $2,000,000 was recovered from the Mandy ore.

Manitoba Mining History

2007-03-08T14:37:00.000-06:00

This is the first in a series of posts presenting information on the History of Mining in Manitoba Canada. As Gold is a favorite subject of mine I choose to blog about Manitoba Gold Mining first. Recently San Gold Corporation (SGR) has reopened and modernized what was once known as the San Antonio Mine at Rice Lake, now known as the Rice Lake Mine and a second new mine known as SG#1. SGR is actively exploring for new deposits within the Rice Lake Greenstone belt and have been successful in finding several additional gold deposits and prospects within close proximity to the rice lake mine and the companies modern milling facility. With two mines already producing and success in finding new deposits the future for gold mining in the Rice Lake area looks promising.

Some History of The San Antonio Mine
From Manitoba Historical Society

In May 1910 E. A. Pelletier, of the Royal Canadian Northwest Mounted Police, resigned from the force and turned to prospecting, north and east of Norway House. While en route south by boat on one occasion he met Charles A. Bramble, associated with the Great Northern Gold Mines Limited (incorporated 1908) which held claims near the Hole River Indian Reserve-staked by Arthur Quesnel, Charles A. Bramble, Louis Simard, Allan Meade and John Potvin. Bramble told Pelletier of the favourable geological formation in the area, which prompted him to leave the boat at the mouth of Wanipigow (Hole) River, to prospect east to Wanipigow Lake. Next he worked south to the mouth of Manigotogan (Bad Throat) River where he met Arthur Quesnel at his trading post, and was informed of the mineralized areas along the river. In a very short time Pelletier discovered, staked the Ojibway claim and proceeded to Winnipeg to record the claim and organize the Ojibway Syndicate which included T. L. Cartwright, OF. L. Crosby, A. C. Gray, John Kitchen, W. A. Munro, J. W. Sifton, W. L. Roblin, G. OF. C. Pousette, and A. Murray S. Ross.

Returning to the claim with some mineral samples he had obtained in Montreal, Pelletier indicated to various trappers in the area what regions appeared favourable for the occurrence of gold. Travelling east along the Manigotogan River, after freeze-up of 1910, with a trapper, Alex Spence, he met Duncan Twohearts, an Indian trapper, who had some rock samples in his possession.

One of these proved of interest as it contained arsenopyrite, but it did not belong to the area in which Twohearts was working. However the Indian was attracted by Pelletier's sample and said he would keep on the lookout for gold quartz similar to what had been shown to him.

Pelletier and Spence continued their journey to (Big) Rice Lake where the latter had a winter camp. There Pelletier was impressed with the favourable appearance of the rock formation and spent a month before returning to the Ojibway claim. In the meantime Twohearts had sent some samples to Arthur Quesnel. When Pelletier saw these he thought so well of one particular sample that arrangements were made to investigate its source.

With two dog teams, a party set out from the Manigotogan post and at Turtle Lake the attractive sample of quartz was shown to Twohearts who said through an interpreter, Johnny Woods, "From Big Rice Lake." Twohearts and his son joined the party to proceed to (Big) Rice Lake and stopping a mile west of Spence's camp on the north shore of the lake, he pointed to where the sample has been taken but nothing except float quartz could be found.

Pelletier was desirous of finding a rock outcrop so he called on the men to gather wood to make a fire. The dogs were unhitched and tied up to rest; the party removed their snowshoes which were used to shift the deep snow. Next wood was set afire to expose the bedrock. In the meantime the usual bush lunch was prepared. When the outcrop was laid bare and while strongly heated by the fire, Pelletier had the men throw water on the rock. Quartz cracked off in slabs and its unweathered surface was exposed. Sulphides were found and on closer scrutiny visible gold was seen. The staking out of the Gabrielle claim followed on March 6, 1911 the holder E. A. Pelletier.

Some prospecting equipment was moved from the Ojibway claim and Pelletier with an assistant, Alex Desautels, began preliminary work. On May 17, 1911, Desautel staked out the San Antonio claim and on the following day, May 18, Pelletier staked out the Rachel claim. These were the beginnings of what is now the property of San Antonio Gold Mines, Limited. Returning to Turtle Lake, Pelletier had Twohearts make a birch bark canoe which he used later to transport several hundred pounds of samples from Rice Lake to Hecla on Lake Winnipeg and thence to Selkirk by a fishing boat.

Some years later Pelletier realized that he required financial assistance so he journeyed to Montreal to offer the property to the Timmins brothers of the Hollinger mine. Alphonse Pare, mining engineer, was sent to examine the claims and reported favourably but by this time Pelletier was averse to disposing of all the claims in one venture. Negotiations were discontinued and later Gabrielle Gold Mines Limited was formed by Pelletier. Stock was offered for sale in Winnipeg at 30 cents a share and the first advertising appearing in the Free Press brought the following comment in a day when the public were not quite so ready to venture as they were later:

"The sale of this stock by Fryer and Company caused considerable comment and much ridicule in Winnipeg, but there were a few so-called unbalanced people who with stealth and abandon bought a few shares from 50 to 100. But those purchasers did not want their names used or their friends to know that they had come to such a low level of financial hopes. However, the conservative statements of this first gold mining advertisement created interest as well as smiles. To strangers in Winnipeg the statements appeared of marked importance."

A new chapter was written into the mining history of Manitoba but Pelletier's property was then many years away from being a producing mine. Following the discovery of gold at Rice Lake, many claims were staked out in the area. Then came several years of fitful attempts at development in the area during which no prospect made a mine. Results so unsatisfactory cast doubt on the presence of gold in paying quantity.

The next chapter in the history of mining in Manitoba is concerned with since the coming into production of the Central Manitoba mine in the fall of 1927, which time there has been a steady production of gold from that area even though Central Manitoba mine had ceased operations in 1937, after mining gold ore to the value of $4,118,311.

The San Antonio mine adds to that chapter. As early as 1919 J. D. Perrin, now president of San Antonio Gold Mines, Limited, hired what is believed to have been the first aeroplane used in mining work to get J. B. Tyrrell out of the Rice Lake area after he had examined the San Antonio property. It was pretty much of an open air machine. A snow storm came on forcing Perrin and Tyrrell to turn back and later Tyrrell got out of the area by dog team.

In the development of the San Antonio mine three names stand out - J. D. Perrin, D. J. Kennedy, now deceased, but its first general manager, and John A. Reid, consulting mining engineer of Toronto. The successful position of the company today is the outcome of faith in the venture, efficient direction of its development and accurate deductions from geological study. The mine began production in 1932, and milled ore at the rate of 150 tons a day. It paid its first dividend in 1934 and has continued to do so since that year.

There were times in the career of the San Antonio mine that were discouraging. Financing was not easy until 1930, but D. J. Kennedy was convinced, as was his president, J. D. Perrin, that the mine had merits. At one time when finances were low and there wasn't enough money in the treasury to buy steel rails on which to tram with cars, Kennedy turned to an antiquated device the wheelbarrow an almost unpardonable offense in a gold mine to move the broken rock in opening up a high-grade shoot in the No. 16 vein.

The Timmins Brothers of Hollinger fame were induced to invest some money in the San Antonio mine. That was the turning point and from that time even if the mine had only 61,000 tons of $12 to $14 rock in reserve, the San Antonio went on producing. As yet it was a one vein (No. 16) mine when a second turn came in the tide of success with the discovery of the No. 26 vein in 1933, and an outstanding development followed in that year. San Antonio was no longer a struggling prospect. The daily mill rate was raised to 275 tons. But No. 26 vein had its day. It sparked the life of the mine in placing large ore reserves in sight rapidly and supplied the key for the planning of future developments. Veins such as the 36, 38, 40, 42, 50 and 54 have been discovered successively at depth while No. 16 continued its existence to the 16th level (2400-foot). At the end of 1948 San Antonio was pursuing development to a depth of 3.450 feet. Its ore reserves at the end of 1948 were estimated at 720,000 tons or enough for more than four years of milling at its present mill capacity, 550 tons a day. To the end of 1948 San Antonio had produced $22,311,164 in gold from 2,054,537 tons of ore. Dividends amounting to $5,839,838 had been paid.

About the north shore of Rice Lake there has grown a community which is a credit to the mining company and its employees alike. It is one of these tidy communities in which the homes, the school and the playground reflect the good feeling that animates those who work in the San Antonio's mine and mill. Removed some 125 miles from city life it lacks nothing that is desired in wholesome, healthy community life.
South-eastern Manitoba may he able to claim that it was one of the first areas in the Province to record the discovery of gold but it cannot claim to be the first gold producer.

The next post will cover more of the recent history from 1948 to present. More information on the Rice Lake and San Gold mines can be found on the San Gold Corporation Website

That's a Big Lump of Gold

2006-06-09T23:23:00.000-05:00

The book in the image above shows a picture of a gold specimen on the cover of the publication "Gold Deposits of Manitoba" (1996) from Manitoba Energy and Mines.
This very large, high grade gold sample came from the San Antonio Mine, now the Rice Lake Gold Mine, in Bissett Manitoba. The Lump of gold is 24 cm x 20 cm x 5 cm in size and contains an estimated 5.41 kilograms of gold. That works out to be close to 174 troy ounces of native gold in the one chunk. Can you imagine how the miners felt when they found that!

The Bissett gold specimen is now part of the collection at the National Museum of Natural Science, Ottawa. If you visit Ottawa and get a chance to visit check it out.

"If anyone reading this has information on the history of when the "Bisset Nugget" was found and by whom etc. please leave a comment or contact me. I haven't yet found out the entire story behind it and would like to write a post or two on the history."

The Rice Lake Gold Mine and the New San Gold #1 mine are both owned and operated by San Gold Corporation headquatered in Bissett Manitoba. While visiting the town recently I saw diamond drills turning and workers busy expanding the known gold resources at Bisset. Ore is also being mined at both mines and the mill is busy processing and refining the yellow.

San Gold also has several other gold deposits and drill targets in advanced stages of exploration along with plenty of additional property within the Rice Lake Gold Belt. It wouldn't suprise me if some more exceptional high grade specimens are found in the future.

Exciting things are happening at San Gold Corp and the town of Bisset is experiencing renewed ecomonic benefit as a result. For more information on San Gold Corp visit their website.

Staking property for Gold

2006-05-18T14:44:00.000-05:00

April 10 2006 saw filed recording's on two new properties that were staked in the Rice Lake Gold belt of Manitoba Canada, one claim of 96 hectares named Liam and an adjoining claim named Liam2 of 48 hectares.

As a result of prospecting activities prior to and after staking we discovered old prospect trenches and other workings. One trench made on the quartz veins within altered rocks in a shear zone is pictured below.

Early sampling resulted in an assay return of 14.68 g/t Gold from a sample chipped from surface to approximately 3 feet down on the left side of the trench shown in the image above. This sample was taken where the vein material meets the altered host rock.

the owner is happy with this result and motivated to conduct a more detailed sampling program that will include channel sampling and surface sampling organized by a grid.

Gold passed the $700 mark

2006-05-09T14:36:00.000-05:00

U.S. benchmark gold futures closed on Tuesday at a 25-year high, above $700 an ounce, driven by relentless investor buying on geopolitical tensions and traders' expectations of further price gains ahead.

Market talk that economists urged China to quadruple its gold reserves to 2,500 tonnes from the current 600 tonnes because its foreign exchange reserves had become the world's largest also stoked the gold rally, dealers said.

A jump in spot gold, record-high platinum and soaring copper and aluminum prices amid a boom in precious and industrial metals contributed to the 3.2 percent rise as well.

"I think that platinum helped gold more than anything else," said a gold trader at a precious metals refiner in New York. "But that China story certainly helps."

June delivery gold on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division settled at $701.50 an ounce, up $21.60 on the day.

NEW YORK (Reuters)

Investors and gold mining companies are certainly enjoying the day.

Gold Prices May 8 2006

2006-05-08T15:31:00.000-05:00

May 8

Gold for immediate delivery fell $4.30, or 0.6 percent, to $679.50 an ounce at 4:48 p.m. London time after touching $671. Prices earlier reached $686.60, the highest since October 1980.

Gold futures for June delivery dropped $3.10, or 0.5 percent, to $681.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The market was supported by a weak dollar in early dealings and by active buying by Japanese investors returning after a holiday, traders said.

But prices fell back on news that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent a letter to President George W. Bush, suggesting ways to ease tension over Iran's atomic program.

Gold has gained 32 percent this year due to tension in the Middle East, firm oil prices and a volatile dollar. The price has doubled in three years.

NineMSN Investor News Link

Canadian dollar trend remains up

2006-05-05T17:47:00.000-05:00

Here is an excellent article by by Mike Jubinville of Pro Farmer Canada.

A true milestone was surpassed for the Canadian dollar this week, which rose above the 90 cents US level for the first time since June 1978, up an astounding 45 per cent from the 62 cents US low established in 2002.

Obviously such a move impacts all facets of the Canadian economy and the export-oriented farm commodity sector surely has felt the weight as well. I'm sure we would be looking at $5+/bu wheat with only a 50 per cent retracing of this currency move.

The latest boost to the loonie came after Statistics Canada reported the economy grew by 0.2 per cent in February, matching January's growth. The dollar has also been rising on expectations that the Bank of Canada may continue raising interest rates.

On April 25, the central bank boosted its key overnight rate by a quarter of a percentage point to four per cent, and warned more hikes may be necessary to keep the economy moving and inflation under control. Two days later, in its quarterly monetary policy report, the bank reiterated that message, saying the economy is operating at, or even above, its full capacity.

While the Bank of Canada has been signalling more possible hikes in interest rates, Ben Bernanke, the U.S. Federal Reserve's chairman, signalled a week ago that the Fed may take a short pause after pushing up rates one more time.

I'm asked somewhat regularly what my opinion is regarding the future direction of the Canadian dollar relative to the U.S. greenback. My somewhat generic response is...”I don't think I, nor anyone else, is smart enough to chart an accurate predictive course for the dollar as there are just too many variables involved, both economic and political”.

The combination of global economic strength, domestic strength and rising commodity prices puts the Canadian dollar in a relative sweet spot and solid growth in the Canadian economy has occurred.

But I will say this: for the past two years, I have been saying that the loonie seems destined to work itself towards 90 cents US, and we are there now. What happens next is hard to say. But certainly the debate carries on endlessly.

However as it relates to the currency markets, when a trend becomes established, it tends to move in multi-year cycles. And while I am reluctant to pick and choose targets for the loonie, the chart of the Canadian dollar clearly points to a move which remains inexorably higher. The “Trend is our Friend” trader's axiom is at work here, and until the chart tells us different, the Canadian dollar remains a bull.

Mike Jubinville of Pro Farmer Canada offers information on commodity markets and marketing strategies. Call 204-654-4290 or visit His website find out more about his services.

Concern for Mining Investments in Peru

2006-05-04T06:23:00.000-05:00

Source Article:

Business News Americas Thursday, May 4, 2006

Snip:

Newmont: Elections threaten investments of up to US$2bn - Peru
Published: Wednesday, May 3, 2006 16:56 (GMT -0400)

Five years of planned investments worth up to US$2bn at Peru's Yanacocha gold mine could be threatened if the country's legal and fiscal stability is not maintained, Pierre Lassonde, president of US miner Newmont said.

Full Story

Comment:

Nationalization like what happened in Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela is every forgein investors nightmare. I think that I'll stick to North America.

Hey, Canada's newest gold mine is right here in Manitoba, San Gold Corporation at Bissett (SGR: TSX-V).

Gold Investments A Few Helpful Tips

2006-05-02T16:27:00.000-05:00

This article contains useful information about why and how to buy gold investments. It was first published 2005-12-05 By Jamie Clark

Throughout history, gold has been a highly valued substance.

It's unique properties and relative scarcity caused almost every world culture to use it as a form of money, as well as a way to "store" value. Although it has lost much of its importance as a form of currency, gold investments still provide a great way to protect your money and diversify a portfolio.

Over the past few years, gold prices have been steadily rising. There is a very good chance this trend will continue over the long-term, making it a good idea to put some money into gold investments now. Also, buying gold is a great way to hedge against other investments. Due to uncertainty in the stock market and the value of the US dollar, it's a good idea to put 10-20% of your money into a hedge fund in order to protect yourself. Gold and silver have always been considered to be among the best forms of hedge investments because they have relatively stable values (due to very small changes in supply).

How to Invest in Gold

Before you buy gold, it's a good idea to get the help of an investment consultant. This is especially true if you've never invested in gold before. He or she can help you determine the best moves to make based on your own personal financial goals and risk tolerance. If you already have a personal financial adviser, tell him or her that you'd like to use gold to hedge your portfolio. If he or she doesn't have much experience dealing in gold investments you may want to find someone who does.

If you're interested in profiting from the price movements of gold, buying gold bullion coins are an excellent option. The best choices are the American Eagle, the Canadian Maple Leaf, the Britannia, and the Australian Nugget coins. You can buy gold bullion coins from precious metal and coin dealers, both offline and online.

Before making a gold bullion purchase, always shop around for the best prices, as the markup on coins will vary from dealer to dealer. Also, do everything possible to make sure the dealer you're buying from has been in business for awhile and has a good reputation. If possible preserve your gold coins in the original mint packaging and protect them from scratches to maximize resale value.

Gold bars are another gold investment option you may want to look into. Smaller bars are usually more expensive (per ounce) than large bars but are often easier to sell. In general, bars carry a higher price premium than coins. As with gold bullion coins, only buy and trade with reputable dealers.

About the Author

Jamie Clark is a writer and researcher for Gold-Bullion-Guide.com. For useful, up-to-date news and information about gold bullion investments be sure to visit the site.
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Gold Investing

2006-05-01T19:44:00.000-05:00

Why Buy Gold?
For millennia gold has been used as money, a store of value and in jewelry. Modern industrial uses include dentistry and electronics. Gold forms the basis for a monetary standard used by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

So why all the recent excitement about Gold?

To quote from the World Gold Council Website
Adding gold to an investment portfolio introduces an entirely different class of asset. Gold is unusual because it is both a commodity and a monetary asset. It is an 'effective diversifier' because its performance tends to move independently of other investments and key economic indicators.

"As a global currency, an investment and simply a thing of beauty, gold has held an allure for thousands of years. For the investor, that allure is largely to do with gold’s proven ability to preserve value over time and be a good diversifier within a portfolio."

Gold prices have been climbing and there are good indications that it will continue it's upward price trend.

Gold for June delivery climbed to a high of $663.80 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange before closing up $5.70 at $660.20 an ounce, to mark the highest front-month futures level in more than 25 years, as steep declines in the U.S. dollar and concern about Iran's nuclear-research program fueled safe-haven buying and fed a broad-based metals rally. - MarketWatch, May 01, 2006 17:27

“The trend is up. I have a 50 percent probability that we will get to $800 next year and a 25-30 percent probability to take that up to $850,” Martin Murenbeeld told Reuters on the sidelines of the European Gold Forum, which ended on Thursday. - Daily Times Tuesday, May 02, 2006

A GOLD rush helped push the stock market higher yesterday, with the market winning back all the ground it lost in Friday's sell-off.

Aequs Securities institutional dealer Ric Klusman said the big mining companies made strong gains and gold stocks were the flavour of the day after the yellow metal shot to fresh 25-year highs.

"It's been a strong, strong day," he said. "The gold price in Asia is up and everybody has just been piling into the gold stocks." - Alex Wilson Herald Sun May 02, 2006

Manitoba Ranks Number One In Canada For Minerals Policies

2006-05-01T17:57:00.000-05:00

According to the 2005 Fraser Institute survey, mining and exploration companies rank Manitoba first in Canada and third in the world for our minerals policies. - Fraser Institute survey Report Link in PDF Format

According to a January 05, 2006 press release from Manitoba Industry, Economic Development and Mines Minister Jim Rondeau, it is anticipated that Over $24 Million in mineral exploration in the province will supported with $1.4 Million from the Mineral Exploration Assistance Program (MEAP)from the department.

It is felt that much of this new exploration is being driven by High Commodity Prices For Gold and Nickel. The provinces announcement of $1.4 million in new investment assistance to the mineral exploration sector is testimony of the commitment to mining development

The MEAP program offers almost $2.5 million in assistance annually in the spring/summer and fall/winter to encourage and support Manitoba's mining industry. It provides assistance of up to 25 per cent of approved eligible expenses to a maximum of $300,000. There are higher levels of assistance, up to 35 per cent to a maximum of $400,000, to encourage exploration in under-explored frontier regions such as the Northern Superior, Far North and Hudson Bay Lowland regions, and areas that need new discoveries to sustain existing communities such as Lynn Lake/Leaf Rapids and Bissett. - MB Press Release Link and MEAP projects by region

Over the last 10 years, mineral exploration expenditures in Manitoba have averaged $31.8 million annually. This year's increased activity is expected to bump expenditures upwards of $52.7 million. Mining is the second largest primary resource sector and employs approximately 3,800 people directly and 11,000 indirectly through spinoff business, many of them in northern regions.

Increased exploration and mineral prospecting is both welcomed and encouraged by all stakeholders in the industry.

Anyone that has been following gold prices realizes that there is renewed world wide interest in gold and gold investments. Savvy investors are steadily increasing their holdings in precious metals and mining stocks.

All indications are that 2006 is going to be an active year for companies exploring for and producing precious metals and mineral commodities.