Lac Du Bonnet

The Lac du Bonnet Mining District in southeast Manitoba, near the Ontario border is an area rich in history dating back to the days of the famous Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye (1685-1749) who, in his day, traveled farther west than any previous European explorer. During his search for a route across Canada from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, De Varennes traversed what is now known as Manitoba and during the course of his travels decided that the shape of the lake (Lac du Bonnet) reminded him of the shape of a bonnet - hence the name. His father was the sieur de Varennes, the governor of Trois Rivières, Quebec, Canada.

The town of Eureka was Lac du Bonnet's first settlement. The Lac du Bonnet Development Company formed in 1896 to prospect for mineral rights and timber limits and the first claims were staked up to the Seven Sisters area and north to Bird River. In 1901 the J.D. McArthur Company purchased all holdings of what had become the Lac du Bonnet Timber, Mining and Manufacturing Company, the town site and over 2,000 acres of land. The company went on the build the 250 miles stretch of the Transcontinental Railway, east of Winnipeg. The explosive population growth in central and eastern Canada kept the company focussed on construction timber and paper through to the end of its days in 1925.

The Lac du Bonnet community is located about 100 kilometres northeast of the capital city of Winnipeg. The Cabot Corporation's Tantalum Mine in Lac du Bonnet is one of the region's major employers. About 60 kilometres north of Lac du Bonnet, San Gold operates the prolific Rice Lake Mine (formerly San Antonio).

The Lac du Bonnet Batholith is a granite/granodyrite body on the PreCambrian Shield of Canada. The Bird Lake greenstone belt, a 5-10 kilometre wide by 55 kilometre long, east trending belt that extends from the town of Lac du Bonnet in the west to the Manitoba-Ontario border in the east, comprises a steeply dipping sequence of metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks of the Rice Lake Group.

Many of the mineral deposits mined in Manitoba are located in ancient volcanic belts known as greenstone belts^**. Large deposits of Cu and Zn were formed billions of years ago as volcanoes erupted over ancient sea floors. The Thompson Nickel Belt, on the other hand is not located in a greenstone belt, but rather along an ancient collision zone between two continents. Regardless of their origin however, the mineral wealth within these belts can be enormous.

Over the last hundred years, Manitoba's mining industry has spawned over 70 mines, generating railways, roads and airports into the northern reaches of the province, and giving rise to today's mining communities: Flin Flon, Snow Lake, Lynn Lake, Leaf Rapids and Thompson in the north and Bissett and Lac du Bonnet in the south. From these hubs a strong infrastructure has developed, creating increased exploration and mining activity.

Outside the known mineral producing areas, the geological potential for gold discovery on and along the Rice Lake greenstone belt in southeastern Manitoba is considered high and consequently more and more juniors are attracted to the area.

**The Rice Lake greenstone belt in Manitoba and the prolific Red Lake greenstone belt in Ontario share many geologic features. They lie in the same geological terrain, on the same crustal fault and are structurally very similar. Like the Red Lake greenstone belt, the Rice Lake greenstone belt is part of the Superior Province and Uchi Subprovince. What separates the districts from each other is their exploration history and the border between the provinces of Manitoba and Ontario. In spite of its similarities to the Red Lake greenstone belt, the Rice Lake greenstone belt remains virtually un-explored.