2004 RESOURCE STOCK INVESTOR PAGE

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t was more than a sweet homecoming for

✍

L to R: Dale Ginn, President, SGR; Hugh Wynne,

Dale Ginn when he sealed a $7.5 million

deal for a mining property in Manitoba.

Having invested so much time and expertise

at the Rice Lake mine on behalf of its

previous owners, Ginn and his partners had

every right to feel they earned the opportunity

to purchase it for themselves.

Ginn was instrumental in forming Rice

Lake Joint Venture in January, through a

50/50 joint venture between San Gold

Resources Corp. and Gold City Industries

Ltd., acquiring Harmony Gold (Canada)

from Harmony Gold Mining Company Ltd.

of South Africa. Included in the deal was the

Bissett Gold Mine, a mill and an environmental

licence.

Ginn was general manager of Harmony

Gold (Canada) before joining the Rice Lake

Gold Corp. as general manager and San Gold

as president elect.

“I spent six years with Harmony and I ran

the Bissett Mine for a period too,” he confirmed.

“Harmony then began to refocus on

assets abroad and eventually we felt it was a

good opportunity to acquire the property. It

also made a lot of sense to acquire the surrounding

lands and the deposits with the

mine itself.”

Ginn said that Harmony put the mine into

care and maintenance in 2001 due to the consistently

low price of gold (which he said

hovered around US$250-

270 at the time), and

because Harmony was

focusing on other assets

elsewhere. The sale to

Rice Lake of the mine and

property was confirmed in

March this year, for $3.5

million in cash and $4 million

in shares in a deal

totalling $7.5 million.

Ginn is joined at Rice

Lake by Hugh Wynne, the

founder of San Gold with

more than 40 years experience

in mining, mining

services and diamond

drilling extensively in

Bissett-Red Lake areas.

And they are bolstered by

the presence of Fred

Sveinson (President &

CEO, Gold City Industries

Ltd.), who has more than

30 years senior and executive

level management

experience of operating mines, contract mining

companies and junior and intermediate

mining companies.

Rice Lake has not only the mine, but several

thousands hectares around it where Ginn

said there are numerous deposits. “We know

the property and the region. We have so

much combined experience in this belt. We

know its history. Also, I believe that no thorough

modern exploration has taken place on

the site since around the time of the Second

World War. Since then, exploration has been

rather sporadic. Now, the belt is made up of

companies that have consolidated some

decent land positions.”

The Rice Lake Gold Project is located on

the Rice Lake Greenstone Belt, around 150

kilometres northeast of Winnipeg and 90

kilometres west of Red Lake Gold Camp.

Ginn said the Bissett Gold mine has produced

1.5 million ounces of gold in the past.

The Belt itself is on the Uchi Sub-province,

which stretches from Lake Winnipeg to

James Bay and includes the Red Lake, Pickle

Lake and Musslewhite Gold Camps.

The mine – historically known as the San

Antonio mine – operated continuously from

1932 to 1968 and produced 1.36 million

ounces of gold. Limited underground exploration

and development took place until 1996

when Rea Gold began an extensive construction

and development program with the

intent of operating at 1,000 tonnes per day,

said Rice Gold. Ginn said Harmony Canada

acquired the property in 1998, completed

construction and produced 110,000 ounces

before placing the property on care and

maintenance.

According to data from the Rice Lake

Joint Venture team, the Bissett Mine contains

550,000 ounces of gold resource and there

has been $120 million spent on the surface

and underground assets since 1993. “There

are many targets which we are just in the

process of prioritizing now,” said Ginn.

“We see a big potential opportunity here. It

is a modern mill and mine, which to set up

from scratch would likely cost around $100

million, not to mention the permitting time.”

Last month, Rice Lake Gold Corp. became

debt free after its joint owners, San Gold and

Gold City Industries, repaid loans of $1.25

million each to Quest Capital Corp. The

loans had been used to purchase a 100 per

cent interest in Harmony Gold (Canada) Inc.

Since the deal was completed, Ginn and

his team have been busy. Two phases of

drilling have been completed at one of the

deposits, three kilometres east of the Rice

Lake Gold Mine. Ginn said that resource calculations

were underway on this deposit, as

well as a third phase of drilling designed to

test depths below 300 metres.

Work also continues on defining further

deposits along a 15 kilometre “mine horizon”

containing the Rice Lake Gold Mine, the

recently drilled deposit, and two additional

discoveries.

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