Large Unexplored Quartz Vein System In Manitoba

A day to remember ... Not many veins exist that a person can actually lean on 

Back in 2007 while staking mineral claims west of the Rice Lake Gold Camp in Manitoba we experienced a bit of a heat wave when temperatures hit above 40 degrees C, and I found myself needing to take a break from making "claim posts" and cutting lines.

At the time the crew and I were carrying out a project and staking an area of about 38 sq miles, or just over 98 sq km's. Needless to say, it was hard work as there were many kilometers of lines that required cutting / blazing and there were hundreds of post markers that had to be completed.

That particular project required that land package be divided into 38 individual mineral claim blocks with each requiring that wooden marker posts be erected every 400 meters along each and every line. We staked over 240 km of boundary and erected and recorded over 350 individual claim posts along those boundaries.

We found ourselves a bit over worked about mid day and worried about heat exhaustion or worse. I decided that the best course of action was to take a break and get out of the heat. I got on the radio and talked with the crew and we agreed to shut down work and take a break. We headed for the nearby lake to cool off and relax a bit, have a lunch and to do things other than work, until the heat diminished some.

To me relaxing in the bush involves a dip in the water, a lunch and a leisurely "walk about" prospecting and looking at the geology, nature and stuff like that. I just have to be moving but mind you I would rather be walking about and prospecting "nice and slow" in that kind of heat.

Cat seen in Manitoba

During that opportunity "to walk about" I happened upon an outcrop of "Greenstone" that hosts a series of hydrothermal vein systems ranging in size from about 1 inch wide up to the width seen in the photo above and somewhat "bigger" a few paces back along strike.

This vein structure is located in a part of the region of Manitoba where the Rice Lake Greenstone Belt is in contact with structures of North Caribou terrane. The visual evidence indicating that can be identified easily if you carefully prospect and visually map the area.

I prospected these veins only in a general manner at the time "casually", yet i managed to get 'a kick" of gold along with some notable numbers for other metals from assay later. I didn't have the time to get back and do a detailed prospecting survey yet . Time and finances were not aligned with my desire to explore it at the time. I did get a day back there last year, in which I gathered a few more samples and later got some assay work done on. Those results indicated significant gold numbers in some samples and also well above background in others.

Yes, there could be a nugget effect happening within some of the assay samples and the results have been very high on selected samples, however on a chip sample over 2 meters the results were still very promising. It is far to early to determine what style or amount of gold occurs here let alone beginning to understand the where for all as to how the gold was deposited.

One of the very few records available on the area indicates that not far from this vein structure, a drill core was made in the past, that reported a gold assay exceeding 1 ounce per ton over a length of 25 feet of core, beginning from surface.

Today in 2012, we have a situation where gold prices have climbed and many new gold discoveries have been made in the area and have been proved to be occurring in similar type geology. Yet, this structure still exists and is still unknown and under explored. I am sure that I will explore it when time and resources permit.

If you wish contact me, I'll be selecting a partner willing to take some risks in exploring this and other occurrences. Not large risks are needed, but a risk none the same, so if you you are not prepared to support or prospect this, or can't get it in your budget to do so, don't worry, there are always other things to do.

This area is now being recognized as one of the very few grass root gold exploration targets remaining under explored in Manitoba. Junior gold exploration companies have taken notice of the area and there is a modern gold mine and milling complex operating close by. Within the Rice Lake Gold Camp San Gold Corp has recently made significant new gold discoveries.

Gold in Manitoba – Where to find it

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!

Manitoba gold properties available for sale or option. Located in the Rice Lake Gold Belt!