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Manitoba
_______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ Cougar's primary exploration focus in 2009 was on its holdings close to San Gold Corporation's Rice Lake Mine in southeastern Manitoba. This will continue for 2010. Cougar holds, by way of 4 option agreements (news releases April 9th, April 20th, May 19th, July 31st, August 10th, 2009) 3 non-contiguous properties located approximately 200 km northeast of Winnipeg, Manitoba, near the town of Bissett. Cougar’s properties (PFG/Bill, Vena, Wyatt) contain 36 claims, in total, which cover an area of 5,795 hectares.
The company’s PFG/Bill property immediately adjoins San Gold’s Rice Lake Mine property. The Rice Lake Mine has total gold content (past production + proven/probable reserves) exceeding 1.8 million ounces. Aggressive exploration by San Gold has resulted in the discovery of several new deposits in the vicinity of the historic mine. The newly discovered high-grade Hinge, Cohiba, 007, and L-13 Zones are hosted by intermediate to felsic volcanics and volcaniclastics which are much higher in the stratigraphic sequence than the gabbro sill which hosts the Rice Lake Mine. Until recently, these rocks were considered non-prospective host rocks for gold mineralization. The Hinge Zone has now been developed by way of a decline, and is producing at a rate of 350 tons per day, from several levels. San Gold announced results from an initial 11,762 ton bulk sample from the Hinge Zone. Average stoping grades of 26.3 g/t Au and average development grades of 21.2 g/t Au were reported for the Main Hinge Lens #1 (San Gold Corp. news release July 14, 2009). Aggressive exploration is continuing from surface and at depth in the Rice Lake Mine, with continued favourable results reported (San Gold Corp. news release, July 30th, August 25th, September 9th, October 20, 2009). Information about the Rice Lake Mine, including a presentation at the Mid-Canada Investment Forum by Dale Ginn, San Gold CEO, is available on San Gold's web-site, . For the best description of the Hinge Zone and Rice Lake Mine, readers are encouraged to visit the featured link.
The Rice Lake area is part of the Uchi Subprovince, a 500 kilometre long by 50 kilometre wide belt, which extends through eastern Manitoba and across southern Ontario. It includes several discrete bands of Mesoarchean and Neoarchean volcanic rocks (greenstone belts), including the Rice Lake and Wallace Lake Greenstone Belts in Manitoba, and the Red Lake, Birch-Uchi and Pickle Lake Greenstone Belts in Ontario. These greenstone belts are hosts to significant gold mineralization. San Gold’s Rice Lake Mine, and Cougar Minerals’ PFG/Bill, Vena and Wyatt properties are all located in the Rice Lake Greenstone Belt. The Rice Lake Greenstone Belt is geologically and structurally analogous to the Red Lake Greenstone Belt of Ontario, where in excess of 25.5 million ounces of gold is known (past production + proven/probable reserves), but it remains remarkably under-explored by comparison.
Cougar completed initial surface programs on its Rice Lake area properties in 2009. This work included stripping and detailed sampling of known veins on the PFG/Bill property, to prepare these targets for drill testing in the winter of 2009/2010. Basic prospecting and rock sampling was done on the PFG/Bill property and on the company’s other properties, and was successful in discovering many new quartz veins, with high grade gold values returned from several of these veins. A diamond drill program was completed on the PFG/Bill property in February-March 2010. Drilling was also done on the company’s former Conley property. Following the drill program, the option was dropped on the Conley property. The company has initiated a spring/fall work program on its Rice Lake properties, which will include stripping and detailed sampling of known gold showings on the Wyatt, PFG/Bill and Vena properties. Diamond drilling is planned for both the Wyatt and PFG/Bill properties in the fall of 2010. |
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Property Location Map
Regional Geological Setting|
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