The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
It appears that Snow Lake will see a bit of action on the mineral exploration front, as well as some mine development work in the coming year. Foran Mining Corporation recently announced that the TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing the private placement of 2,200,000 flow through shares (at $0.70 and 6,018,500 units at $0.56). The company stated in a December 18 press release that this private placement was over subscribed by 18,500 shares, providing aggregate gross proceeds of $4,910,360. Foran Mining management participated in the placement and it was private and non-brokered with no finder's fees paid out for the financing. The company advises that non-flow through proceeds of the private placement will be used for underground development of Foran's North Star Gold Property located near Snow Lake, as well as for operating capital. The flow through proceeds will be used for gold exploration in the North Star Project area, including the Jupiter and Gold Rock Properties, in addition to exploration of kimberlites in Foran's diamond exploration holdings in the Hudson Bay Lowlands. Another company, Coniagas Resources Ltd., recently released initial results of its fall 2003 drilling program at the Squall Lake gold project, located approximately 8 km northwest of the town of Snow Lake. Coniagas is earning a 65% operating interest in the Squall Lake project from MBMI Resources by carrying out a five-year, $2 million exploration and development program. Core drilling in this program encountered several high-grade intervals within broadly mineralized zones. The company states that the near-surface geometry of the mineralization suggests the zones may be amenable to open pit mining. Furthermore, the Coniagus news release affirms that there are also a number of other targets on the property that were not accessed during this drilling program due to locally boggy conditions. It is anticipated that these will be drill-tested in a follow-up winter drilling program that will be carried out in early 2004. In local policing matters, Snow Lake's Corporal Bob MacKnight reported that investigations continue into two harassing telephone call complaints. "In both instances, MTS Security has provided assistance in identifying the origin of the suspect calls," said MacKnight. "This information has this time, and will in the future, lead to the identification of those persons responsible." The corporal also states that regardless of winter driving conditions, traffic enforcement remains productive for the local detachment. Recently, a vehicle was detected, traveling on PTH 39 at 161 km/hr. The fine was $423 and, due to the excessive speed that this car was being driven, the operator will be required to attend a driver's license suspension hearing. Additionally, detachment members have been and will continue to be involved with other RCMP detachments and other agencies in Roadside Check Stops. On December 12, one of these Check Stops was conducted at the junction of PTH 6 and PR 373 (Cross Lake/Norway House turnoff). "Approximately 275 vehicles were checked and a variety of tickets were issued," explained Corporal MacKnight. "Fortunately, none of the drivers were impaired."
