The Santa Maria Mineral Property consists of 3,360 acres of contiguous mining claims. These claims are located in Gillies Limit Township and Lorrain Township in the District of Temiskaming, Ontario, Canada. They are serviced under the Larder Lake Mining Division of the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, Ontario.

The Santa Maria property is noted in history as the location of the discovery of the 2005 pound silver nugget float which now resides outside the Toronto Museum. The property is located within the Cobalt Mining Camp which was world renowned for it¹s celebrated production of silver and cobalt ores during it¹s prolific 80 year history. The property has seen only limited exploration and development as a result of the traditional practice of focusing on low tonnage high grade ore deposits close to surface.

It is apparent from the compilation of available information and the physical examination of the property that it exhibits all the necessary geological features considered typical to host silver and cobalt orebodies. These favourable structures are noted at most if not all of the significant past producers in the camp. Click Here to See Ore Samples >>> sample 1 and sample 2

These features are:

The presence of a contact between Nipissing Age Diabase intrusive into Keewatin age metavolcanics and volcanics. This contact is considered to be genetically related to the deposition of the ore in this area. The undulating nature of the diabase intrusive creates basinal depressions in the underlying structure. The property overlies a portion of such a basin. The diabase intrusion underlies the west half of the property from a depth of 0 feet in the west and about 550 feet toward the center at a dip of 20 - 30 degrees. Keewatin rocks form the hanging wall of this intrusive.

Relative proximity to large controlling fault structures such as the Montreal River Fault and the Cross and Lake Temiskaming Faults. These regional structures in association with localized fault structures in concert with the diabase intrusion are reported to be key conditions for local mineral deposition. The Santa Maria property exhibits all of these conditions. The Cobalt and Silver Center Mining Camps both lie between these regional structures.

Economic Geology - Historical Summary

Strong evidence of subsidiary faulting around and throughout the claims.

Significant reports of veining and mineralization found near the diabase contact in the south half of the claims. Reported are the following:

A 1300 foot long quartz vein from 2-4 feet wide. Cobalt mineralization reported in a 3 foot wide section trending N55degW at the southern end of it in diabase. Native silver, cobalt and gold are reported in pitting and trenching along the northwest trend of this vein.Additional discoveries of mineralized quartz and carbonate veining are encouraging.

A zone of strong sulphide mineralization striking N33degW containing an 8 inch wide quartz vein at one point. 200 feet to the west a similar 8 inch mineralized quartz vein is located. 800 feet northwest is another north trending 8 inch vein. Numerous other smaller veins are reported to contain mineralization as well.

An adit was driven on a vertical, 7 inch wide calcite vein reported to carry considerable cobalt. It was driven 172 feet. Report of silver nuggets encountered. Strike is N35degE.

Additional contacts between the diabase intrusive and the various sediments of the area and the presence of the contact between the keewatin rock and the intrusive Lorrain Granite Batholith in the east provide additional potential to host silver cobalt deposits in the keewatin. Deposits hosted in Huronian and Keewatin sediments are also commonly known in the camp.

The presence of an 80 foot wide mineralized inlier of chert in the keewatin rocks is evidence of base metal potential since these bodies are known to host base metals and gold to varying degrees.These bodies are also well known to underlie some of the most productive silver orebodies in the camp.

CONCLUSION

The Cobalt Camp and area have sat dormant for many years, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the fluctuating cobalt and silver markets. Several viable projects fell to the side over the years for this reason alone and we know it was not for the lack of ore . The limited availability of definitive results respecting the genesis of the local orebodies is another factor, as is the limited, discontinuous nature of past exploration work performed. It is our contention that the Santa Maria Claims are properties of merit, that have experienced the same lack of attention as the local area.

The surface of this property has been reported to have been examined extensively over the past 80 years but little work has been completed or reported since the late 40¹s. Historical information combined with a recent airborne magnetic survey and previous recent assays ³reported² suggest that this property would seriously benefit from a significant exploration program. A program of rock geochemistry, stripping and ground magnetics should be undertaken in concert with preliminary structural drilling. Much of the drilling done previously has focused near the surface and not within 200 -300 feet of the contact as is recommended.

Adjacent to the Santa Maria property, on contiguous ground optioned from Prairie C, Cabo Mining Corp. of Vancouver has undertaken exploration for Volcanogenic Massive Sulphides. They have cited similarities between the mineralogy and structure of the Cobalt Area and the Timmins Kidd Creek area; as important features guiding their exploration. Both areas lie within the Cobalt Embayment which is a geological structure know to host VMS type deposits. Their focus is on the local volcanic and interflow sediments similar to the polymetallic host rocks of Sturgeon Creek and those of the Noranda Texas Gulf type found at Kidd Creek in Timmins. We believe the Santa Maria claims hold similar potential.

Santa Maria Property Report

In October 1998 and February 1999, Prairie C, acquired the Santa Maria Property by staking, as part of it¹s ongoing efforts in the Cobalt Area. To date, some nearly 19,000 acres have been acquired within or adjacent to the famed Cobalt Mining Camp. 14,000 acres held by the partners are currently under option to a public mining company. This group of claims is contiguous to the west and south of the Santa Maria Claims. Prairie C has maintained claims in the area for 3 years. The Santa Maria Property is not currently under option or obligation to any party.

Location and Access

The Santa Maria Property is situated within 1 mile and contiguous to the eastern boundary of Gillies Limit Township - North Part in blocks 22, 32 and 43, and a portion of the claim group lies contiguous to the east in Lots 1 and 2 of Concessions 4 and 5 of Lorrain Township.

The property area is located approximately 12 km east of the town of Latchford or 9km southeast of the Town of Cobalt. Access is gained to the area by Provincial Highway 11 from North Bay and via municipal road off Hwy 11 to the Town of Cobalt. Access to the property is gained by a gravel road that runs south from the Town of Cobalt and then by a series of trails throughout the property.

Property Description and Status

The property area is comprised of 9 claims consisting of 84 - 40 acre units totaling 3,360 acres. The claims are in good standing and are duly recorded in the names of either of the partners, Murray D. Simpson or Simon K. Wareing.

List of Claims

Gillies Limit North Part 1211563, 1225262, 1225263, 1227197, 1225793, 1225721 Lorrain Township 1227195, 1227196, 1225720 CLICK HERE to see map of claims

General Information

For many years since the early discoveries of 1903, the Cobalt Camp was unchallenged as a premier producer of silver and cobalt ores. During it¹s illustrious history, the camp produced on the order of 450 million ounces of silver, 24.8 million pounds of cobalt and about 7.5 million pounds combined of copper, nickel and lead.This level of production earned Cobalt the title; ³Silver Capital of Canada².

The area is well served by paved road access as well as access to rail and trucking services. An abundant pool of local skilled labour in addition to such recently rejuvenated processing facilities as the Sabin Metals-McAlpine Mill and the Cobatec Refinery, which was recently purchased by Canmine Resources Ltd., bode well for the ³possible² redevelopment of the Camp and area.

In spite of the prolific history of the mines in this area it is our contention that there is much that is yet to be discovered. Silver was ³King² during the boom years and many other types of mineralization where either ignored or not reported. Gold and base metals such as nickel, copper, zinc and abundant cobalt were known byproducts of silver production. The practice of the day was to locate, explore and develop high grade silver potential at or near the surface. Traditionally, the mines of the area were seldom driven below 300 feet and considerable production was made from tunnels driven into surface outcrops. Silver values ranged from a few ounces to several thousand ounces per ton and were derived from a complex assemblage of veins and vein stockworks that required highly selective mining practices in order to maintain the consistently high, grade values.

Physiography and Climate

The Cobalt area is typically characterized as a gently rolling terrain common to the Precambrian Shield. Elevations vary from 950 - 1250 meters locally.

The area is moderately well drained with some swampy conditions in low lying areas and along fault depressions. Tamarack and Cedar along with numerous lesser trees and shrubs thrive in these areas. Forest cover is however, generally mixed featuring various pine, birch and several poplar species.

The climate is moderate with typically 30 -100 mm of precipitation during the warm months. Winter is generally moderate to cold with snowfall ranging from 2 -3 m.

Structural Geology

The property lies in an area that is known to be structurally, very active. The Lake Temiskaming and Montreal River Faults are considered to be part of a great, still active system of faulting that extends approximately 300 miles, from the northwest to the St. Lawrence Lowlands in the southeast. Lake Temiskaming is centered on a major rift valley that extends several hundred miles to the northwest. Much evidence of more recent movement is seen in depressions and scarps throughout the area( Thompson 1960).

It is generally considered that the faulting in association with the intrusion of the diabase sill has a genetic relationship to mineral deposition in this area. Most silver in the area was derived from fracture filling deposits in fissures, faults and joints associated with the major northwest trending faults. The localization of ore chutes has been discovered to be structurally related to the major unconformities and the faulting associated with the diabase intrusion and it¹s resulting contacts with the Keewatin metavolcanic and lower coleman member, Huronian sedimentary rocks.

Area Geology

Principal Features (Holbrooke G.L.,1966)

1. The principal geological features of the Cobalt area consist of:

• A complexly folded and faulted series of early Precambrian, Keewatin age lavas and sediments invaded by granites, porphyries, diorites and other early precambrian intrusives and leveled by erosion to form a basement.
• A thick series of flat lying, late Precambrian, Cobalt sediments laid down uncomformably on the eroded basement rocks.These sediments consist of lenticular bodies of basal conglomerate with overlying beds of greywacke, quartzites and slates, occasionally with other interformational conglomerates.
• A widespread, thick, sill like intrusive of very late Precambrian age known as Nipissing diabase. This diabase sill closely followed the relatively flat sediments with an average thickness of about 1,000 feet and judging from available information, had an aerial extent of many hundreds of miles.
• The cumulative effects of erosion since Precambrian times of the general area underlain by the diabase. The diabase sill is not a flat plain but is gently undulating and this feature combined with the accidental level of erosion, has conspired to expose the diabase to various depths. Thus in large areas the diabase is more or less deeply buried under various thicknesses of flat lying sediments. In others the diabase is partly removed and in still others it is completely removed and the sub sill rocks are exposed.

In this geological setting a large number of very rich silver and cobalt orebodies have been found and more or less mined out. These orebodies occur in calcite filled fractures carrying impressive quantities of native silver with sulphides, arsenides and antimonides of cobalt, nickel, iron and copper. The values occur within the veins as ore shoots which are controlled by faulting and fracturing.

The orebodies of the Cobalt Camp have been studied exhaustively by a number of competent geologists and from the accumulated data a number of geological relationships and conditions have emerged which are common to all or most of the known orebodies. These relationships and conditions have apparently controlled the emplacement of the orebodies and if they can be duplicated elsewhere in unexplored sections of the general area they should point the way to new, unknown orebodies. The more important empirical features are:

• The orebodies all lie within about 300 feet vertically of either the top or the bottom contact of the diabase sill.
• Within this range the orebodies occur in the diabase itself or in intruded rocks but tend to favour the latter.
• As the orebodies occur in fissure type veins fracturing is obviously important. For the most part the productive veins are found in fracture patterns subsidiary to main, regional faults and these larger structures are apparently necessary features.
• The vein-carrying subsidiary fractures are apparently influenced in distribution and frequency by the distribution of competent horizons in the underlying keewatin rocks whether the veins are found in these rocks, in the uncomformably overlying sediments or in the diabase.

  Claim Geology and Structure (General)

The Santa Maria claim group is bounded in the west and north by the top of a large intrusive diabase sill which dips eastward 20 to 25 degrees underlying much of the west half of the property. Depth of the diabase intrusive is from 0 feet in the west of the group where it outcrops,down to about 1200 feet nearer the east boundary of Gillies Limit where it is in contact with Algoman age granite.

The east half of the claim group is predominated by a large Algoman age granite batholith. The Lorrain Batholith, as it is known, trends northward and is about 9 miles long and stretches east for 5 miles. The granite intrudes the keewatin volcanics along the contact and therefore may host silver/cobalt mineralization, however, the granite tends to be massive so the possibility is limited.

Keewatin age volcanic rocks comprise the hanging wall of the 1000 foot thick diabase sill which lies between the top of the north trending sill and the western edge of the N20degW trending batholith. The belt of keewatin rocks is from 1200 to 2500 feet wide and generally trends north and underlies the balance of the property.

In the south central portion of the claims, the granite/keewatin contact is overlain by a thin sheet of Cobalt Conglomerate. This wedge of conglomerate trends N30degW and is part of a larger formation to the south that is cut by a narrow east trending finger of the diabase sill. An area of Lorrain Formation traverses the southwest corner of the southernmost claim and also contacts with the diabase and granite.

The property area is centrally located between the major northwest trending Montreal River Fault to the southwest and the similar trending Cross Lake Fault to the northeast. These large regional faults are considered well to be the controlling structures chiefly responsible for ore mineral deposition in the area. Premineral faulting allowed for the passage of mineral rich fluids that deposited the mineral in fractures and enriched the porous fracture walls of the numerous secondary and tertiary faults and fault zones. Owing to the particularly venous nature of the deposits found to date, it is easy to see why it has been difficult to outline reserves in this camp. These properties exhibit much of this type and abundance of fracturing and given the relative importance of the diabase and keewatin contacts, these claims are well structured to host a deposit or deposits.

The foregoing contention is supported by evidence of at least 3 significant fault directions. The first, N45 - 60degW is demonstrated by sections of the Montreal River to the west and north of the property and a strong lineament that extends from the area of the Silver Center Mining camp about 12 miles to the southeast through Lakes Latour, Pine, Edison, Expanse and to Botha Lake in the southwest corner of the property. The second is also marked by the course of the Montreal River about 2 miles west at N5 - 15degW.

Further evidence comes from two parallel lineaments 800 feet apart adjacent to the Gillies limit boundary that run for several miles to the north. The third, probable direction of faulting, N45 - 50degE, is evidenced by 2 parallel lineaments located to the southwest at 1/2 and 1 1/2 miles.

Exploration History-Reported

1925-1937 British Canada North Exploration and Development Limited Sporadic exploration included some pitting and trenching in the southwest portion of the claims. Limited information is available on the work.

1946 Santa Maria Mines Ltd. 8 diamond drill holes totaling 1520 feet were drilled on an 800 foot northwest trending shear zone in the west central portion of the claims. 3 shallow shafts were sunk to bedrock in this same area. Additional trenching and testpitting was extensive.

1948 -1949 Santa Maria Mines Ltd. Discovery of silver nugget and large niccolite boulder. A large cobalt nugget was unearthed during trenching. Assays of 10 - 16% Cobalt running 0.5 - 2.5 oz/ton Au were reported from pit workings.

1951 Santa Maria Mines Ltd. 4 holes drilled totaling 1319 feet. Assay of 7.1 oz/ton over 2.5 inches found 95 feet above the contact in one hole.

1960 Santa Maria Mines Ltd. Ratiometric survey completed. 4 drill holes totaling 1,859 feet. No reported assays. Botha Lake Mining Corporation(Rayrock Mines Limited) A ratiographic survey was done on 279 acres to determine the presence of the important cross fracturing necessary to ore deposition. Success was reported and several anomalies were identified and traced. 15 drillholes completed to a depth of 300 to 500 feet. 0.2 - 4.3 oz/ton Ag reported

1997 Wabana Explorations Ltd. A prospecting and stripping program was carried out in the west central area of the property. The area was once held by Santa Maria Mines. Stripping focused on the old workings where 26 samples were taken and analyzed. Numerous shear zones, chert horizons and quartz veins were sampled and found to have noteworthy amounts of sulphide mineralization. Potential for volcanogenic massive sulphide mineralization was postulated from reported evidence of proximal vent facies and hydrothermal alteration occurring near Borden lake. Wabana reported results of up to Au - 226ppb, Ag - 148.5g, Co - 1%, Cu - 0.9%, Ni - 580g and Zn - 808g per one ton assay portion used.

1998 Cabo Mining Corp./ Branchwater Resources Limited Cabo Mining conducted an Airborne Geophysical Survey on contiguous properties optioned from Prairie C by Branchwater Resources Limited. This survey encompassed the Gillies Limit portion of the Santa Maria claim group as well as the majority of Prairie C¹s additional holdings. The report is available but no definitive analysis for the Santa Maria claims is given. 24 anomolous EM trends were assigned top priority on the basis that they ³exhibit characteristics indicative of a valid, geological target².

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