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

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.

Rice lake Area Manitoba - Gold Exploration Continues

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

High Grade Gold Discoveries Continue in Manitoba

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

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

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.

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!

Gold Prospecting reaps rewards

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.