“Certainty of title and access to Crown land is paramount to our industry, but only the Crown can provide the certainty required to secure major investment to develop projects like the potential new gold camp at Lake Abitibi, Ontario”, states Darryl Stretch, President of Solid Gold. “No obstacle should stand in the way because, like the Ring of Fire, the Solid Gold project may be a once-in-a-century economic opportunity to the benefit of all Canadians.”

The Government of Ontario (the “Crown“) distributed a draft set of guidelines for its Ministries to properly consult and accommodate aboriginals where required.

A rising gold price, an unequivocal ruling from the Supreme Court of Canada (Haida) confirming that third parties have no duty to consult First Nations, and encouragement from the Crown formed the basis for Solid Gold’s decision to conduct a regional exploration program at Lake Abitibi, Ontario, Canada.

Over several staking campaigns, beginning in the fall of 2007 through the summer of 2010, Solid Gold acquired mineral rights to a 200-square-kilometer property on Crown land at Lake Abitibi (the “Property“). The Property hosts a largely untested 15 km strike of the north branch of the famous Porcupine Fault zone. Mineralized bedrock over the region is mostly obscured by a layer of overburden that precludes use of conventional exploration methods to target the geology. To overcome this, Solid Gold followed up on historical exploration initiatives in the region by conducting expensive high-resolution airborne surveys to accurately map the potential gold-bearing geology hidden from early explorers.

Owing to significant investment, data acquisition, compilation, analysis and good luck, Solid Gold’s phase one drill-testing program delivered a high-grade gold discovery (previously disclosed on May 17, 2011). Even more important, the program established that at least three separate mineralizing systems are present on the Property. Results of early drilling suggest there is potential for discovery of multiple deposits all along trend. As a result, Solid Gold identified further funding to finance a more aggressive exploration and a follow-up drill program.

Unfortunately, however, sampling and analysis from the follow-up program has yet to be completed because in November 2011 Solid Gold found itself in the middle of a conflict between First Nations and the Crown respecting asserted aboriginal rights over the region, including the Property. The planned financing was lost.

In the absence of any legal requirement, Solid Gold attended a meeting initiated by the Crown on November 4, 2011 billed as a friendly get-to-know-your-neighbour kind of meeting. From the start, Wahgoshig First Nation (“WFN“) demanded that all exploration stop until Solid Gold conducted a $100,000 archeological survey to the satisfaction of WFN. When Solid Gold advised that it had no budget for such a survey, the Chief of WFN threatened litigation and stormed out of the meeting. Shortly thereafter, WFN filed a motion and, as a result, on January 3, 2012, the Ontario Superior Court ordered that Solid Gold stop all further mineral exploration on the Property for 120 days.
 

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