Gold was discovered on the shores of Red Lake by L.B. Howey in 1925. Word spread quickly and the town experienced a sudden surge in economic, industrial, and population growth. People travelled by dog team, on foot, or by open cockpit airplanes to seek their fortune.
By 1936, Red Lake’s Howey Bay was the busiest airport in the world, with more flights taking off and landing per hour than any other.
Since 1925, there have been 28 operating mines and 28 million oz of gold produced at Red Lake. The majority has come from four mines: Red Lake (Dickenson), Campbell, Madsen, and Cochenour.
The Cole Gold Mines property consists of 28 claims totaling 568 ha located in the prolific Red Lake Mining District, accessible by road from the town of Red Lake. The property is 30 km west of the Cochenour, Campbell, Red Lake Mine Complex on the Pipestone Bay Deformation Zone.
The property is comprised of felsic metavolcanic rocks and quartz porphyry intruded by gabbro sills. Shear zones in the porphyry and felsic rocks strike east-west, dip steeply north and contain gold mineralized quartz veins. High-grade gold is associated with sphalerite-chalcopyrite-scheelite bearing quartz veins.
Cole Gold Mines Ltd. developed an exploration shaft to a depth of 530 feet with underground development on 4 levels in the 1930’s.
Historical exploration found high-grade gold intersections up to 2.2 oz/t Au over 1.5 feet in sulphide mineralized quartz veins in sheared quartz porphyry drilled by Kerr Addison Mines. A historical longitudinal section resource estimate of 119,780 tons at 0.41 oz/t Au*.
*These historical estimates do not meet current standards as defined by NI 43-101 and therefore should not be relied upon.